In Haverhill: bold tastes, an inviting menu
By Alison Arnett, June 01, 2006
For all the moaning about the commercialization of food, the rise of obesity, and the decline of the family dinner hour, there’s one bright light in American dining these days: It’s amazing where one can find good restaurants.
Haverhill was once known for the rise of its shoe industry in the 19th century, and then for its decline in the 20th. It wasn’t known for imaginative cuisine. Evenfall, a two-year-old restaurant in the city’s Bradford area, upends that perception. With its busy bar area and a wine list that concentrates on California and other New World wines, Evenfall is a very accessible restaurant, an appealing place to settle in for a quick meal or a special dinner. The service is friendly, although the quality can drop off quickly if the room is busy or if a large party dominates the waitresses’ attention.
Executive chef Scott Pelletier, who previously was the chef at the now-defunct White Star Tavern in Boston, doesn’t shy away from creating bold statements. That’s brought home one evening as we contemplate a very large abalone mushroom, roasted a toasty golden hue, and surrounded by a wispy wild arugula salad dotted with goat cheese. ‘‘How can this taste good?’’ I think as I cut a slice of the mushroom, which resembles a tennis ball — a fitting description, since portobello mushrooms, which have become ubiquitous on menus, have increasingly begun to taste more and more like, well, tennis balls. But Evenfall’s abalone is astounding, scented and flavored with the essence of spring woods. Hazelnut vinaigrette adds some sharpness to the salad, and there’s a dollop of lobster-truffle butter to gild the salad with richness.
The mushroom and its presentation is definitely unusual, showing off Pelletier’s skill and style. Evenfall is owned by Adrienne Sarkisian and Spiro Pappadopoulos, siblings who also own Glory in Andover. It seems wise that they chose Pelletier to match the strength of his food to this spare, open room, with its barn-rafter ceiling and hanging white globe light fixtures. Padded banquettes and some wood detailing soften the interior, which at first looks like an airplane hangar with some rather odd artwork. But by the time you’re discussing the menu and trying out Evenfall’s tastes, the idiosyncrasies of the room fade away.
Pelletier’s menu shows that he likes pork, which he incorporates into dishes large and small. In a spring asparagus salad, the spiky green vegetable is fine and fresh, but seems mostly to be a backdrop to the way a beautifully soft-poached egg soaks up the robust flavor of thick chunks of crisped fresh bacon. More fresh bacon, sometimes called pork belly, underpins seared sea scallops, out-dazzling the other accompaniments of littleneck clams, tomatoes, and a lemon broth. Pelletier goes whole hog with ‘‘The Pig,’’ a dish that changes seasonings and supporting casts from menu to menu, but that always stars pork. A mammoth grilled pork chop, its center moist and tender, gets a slightly sweet-hot tinge from a pineapple-chili glaze; the accompanying fat polenta fries, like Southern corn pone, are flavored with smoked cheddar and are irresistible. Yet more chunks of fresh bacon add to the porkiness of the whole ensemble.
Lamb duet is no less ornate, and includes a strip of lamb sirloin as well as tiny, Frenched chops, which arch over dark greens; the accompanying feta salad, pasta, and a dark, winey sauce all add up to good tastes, although it’s bewildering to try to remember all the elements. Even a spare-fleshed fish, an Australian barramundi, in a vinegary smoked tomato sauce is flanked by an opulent dish overflowing with lobster-laced macaroni and cheese. The fish has a nicely seared crust and its creamy interior is complemented by the gutsy sauce; it deserves to shine on its own, and a smaller portion of the mac and cheese would suffice.
Pelletier can also soft-pedal his cuisine at times. He treats salmon well, managing crisp edges and barely cooked interior. We sample the version from an earlier menu that features shrimp-mascarpone raviolis in a sauce aromatic with saffron. A later dish features fava beans and asparagus. Slightly flattened roast chicken also stays on the menu with different accompaniments. It’s skillfully done so that the flesh is moist and the skin crackles, with a simple pan jus heightening the flavor and wild mushrooms adding to the pleasure.
At the risk of niggling, though, a few adjustments would even out the Evenfall experience. Desserts seem a little shorted here. A cheesecake with topping of s’more-like chocolate and meringue is good, very sweet but flavorful. And roasted strawberries in chantilly cream are fine, though the dessert is not, as the description calls it, a trifle. But nothing else calls to us, and unfortunately, very so-so coffee doesn’t make me want to linger. The small things matter, too — bold strokes like Pelletier’s cooking need to be matched by the details.
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