Piccola Venezia Boston's North End

When you get off at the Haymarket stop on the T in Boston, cross the highway, and enter the “North End” of Boston, you can’t help but feel you have stepped into a whole new city, unique in its’ own architecture, ambiance, culture and of course, cuisine. Jenny Tumey told me the North End was a must, and she couldn’t have been more right. Of course, when you find an area which used to have just 4 restaurants and now have close to 100, you have to ask yourself if just choosing one will be adequate for your experience. The concierge passed me a list of restaurants on Hanover Street, “Taranta”, “Tresca”, “Piccolo Mido” and “Bricco”, don’t tell Mother (she thinks it was on the list), but I decided to window shop for our dining experience.

Piccola Venezia seemed to have all of the “old-world” charm that I was looking for in our dining experience. You can pick the posers in any city, the Hyman’s Seafood restaurants if you will that just scream tourist’s trap. I was looking for something different, a little more up Hanover Street. We passed on the 5 table seafood restaurant, because the line out the door seemed impatiently disagreeable with the weather. But fortunately, I happened to spot Piccola Venezia from across the street. The menu was fantastic, generous portions of Southern-Italian food: fresh vegetables, peppers and other spicy ingredients well away from the No-Italian French influences. The ambiance seemed calm in the midst of a very fast paced street. (Btw, the City is thinking of closing Hanover Street to traffic on the weekends and allowing the restaurants to serve people outside on tables, promoting an open-market community feel). I digress; when you see a family-owned place with middle-aged servers and chefs, bus-boys who could be the server’s child and a matriarchal hostess along with all of the comfort and openness of sitting in a family room looking at photo albums, you have found the right place to dine. The food was spectacular, the price was moderate, the portions were hearty and the setting was absolutely what I’d been looking for. Bravo to the folks at Piccola Venezia for a job well done.