November RC – Carmen Trattoria

Plum tomato sauce, oh and meatballs too

Grilled flatbread

November RC was new member Tracy’s first pick. Initiation into RC can be tough…not everyone can handle the pressure of picking that first restaurant! She was between Bastille Kitchen and Carmen Trattoria. Bastille Kitchen, yet another newish restaurant near the waterfront, couldn’t handle our large party the evening that we wanted to go. Carmen is a sweet little spot in the North End that has been around for 14 years, and we had no problem getting a reservation that practically took over the space. Score one for Carmen! They were even super gracious when we had to decrease the party size at the last minute…instead of taking one of the tables away, they just let us spread out. Score two for Carmen!

This RC was also special because our newest alum, Kendrin, made a special guest appearance. She was in town for a conference and joined us for some drinks and apps before heading off to a fancy dinner at Oleana with some fancy people. 

Salty prosciutto skewers

We started off with several of the first course dishes and one of the small plates from the wine bar:

• spicy Sicilian pickled summer vegetables
• grilled flatbread with caramelized onions, gorgonzola cheese, grapes, candied walnuts, and aged balsamic
• homemade meatballs baked in a plum tomato sauce with fresh mozzarella
• skewered Valle d’Aosta Fontina and Prosciutto di Parma grilled and served with baby arugula
• fiori di zucchini fritti stuffed with herbed goat cheese and drizzled with aged balsamic

I loved the meatballs and the grilled flatbread, but my favorite was probably dipping bread into the plum tomato sauce that came with the meatballs. So simple and yummy. The prosciutto skewers were a bit too salty for me (though the baby arugula was delicious, again very simple with just olive oil and salt) and I also didn’t heart the zucchini flowers. Many people did not agree with me on the zucchini flowers, so perhaps I just got an especially fried piece without any of the stuffing. I am definitely willing to give zucchini flowers another try.

Sweet scallops

For my entree a few of us were torn between duck and the scallops and the scallops won out overall. The scallops were pan seared and served with butternut squash risotto, bacon, and finished with butternut puree. It was a sweet, but tasty dish. I think I also tried a bite of all of the other entrees that were ordered:

Orecchiette, and more tomato sauce!

• sauteed haddock francese in a lemon butter caper sauce with sauteed spinach and crab risotto cake
• fresh linguine and clams with roasted garlic, basil and fra diavolo sauce
• crespelle stuffed with porcini mushrooms and caramelized onions, with our famous Bolognese sauce
• orecchiette with sweet Italian sausage, broccoli rabe, tomatoes with Fontina cheese and herbed bread crumbs

I think my favorite (if I had to choose one) of all the entrees was the orecchiette with sweet Italian sausage, broccoli rabe, tomatoes with Pecorino cheese and herbed bread crumbs. I think I was just drawn to the tomato sauce again.

Carmen doesn’t serve dessert, but a few people took a detour to Mike’s Pastry for a Florentine cannoli!

All in all, a very successful RC. We even came up with a new hashtag! A hundred percent. 100P. #HundoP.

The damage
$74 per person

The rundown
Carmen Trattoria
33 North Square, Boston