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Marblehead Pellino’s This diminutive downtown hideaway is generally first on locals’ lists of favorite restaurants. Naples-born chef-owner Francesco (Frank) Pellino’s white-clothed tables as well as five booths ensconced behind arches and fitted out with old church pews are much in demand. Twinkling white lights outline the front windows above a colorful vest-pocket garden. Whole roasted garlic cloves are served with olive oil for spreading on the crusty Italian bread that begins each meal. The signature veal pellino is sauced with port wine, shiitake mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and herbs, and the garlic-crusted rack of lamb comes with chianti-rosemary jus. Other main-course treats vary from jumbo prawns in a potato crust with ginger and orange soy sauce to roasted duck breast glazed with balsamic vinegar and chambord, served fanned and laced with cranberries. Pasta dishes here are the best in town, from shrimp diavolo tossed with linguini to lobster ravioli. Favorite starters are grilled calamari on a bed of mesclun greens, beef carpaccio and grilled portobello mushroom with mozzarella and tomatoes. The area newspaper called Frank’s warm “volcano” chocolate cake, garnished with a strawberry and a scoop of gelato, arguably the world’s best dessert. Tiramisu, chocolate mousse cake on strawberry coulis, and cappuccino gelato are other favorites. The wine list has been cited by Wine Spectator. Wine-tasting dinners and cooking classes are offered here in the winter. (781) 631-3344. www.pellinos.com. Entrées,
$17.95 to $32.95. Dinner nightly, 5 to 10.
This off-again, on-again waterfront restaurant is very much on again. New owners gutted the interior in 2000 to produce a pub in front and a nautical look in the rear dining area overlooking the harbor. Walls of mirrors bear colorful sails and a two-level deck is beside the water. The deck is warmed with propane heat for use in winter. Executive chef Stephen James’s fare received good reviews. At a recent visit, main dishes included three versions of scrod (from provençal to fish and chips), sole veronique, Caribbean grilled chicken and shrimp, veal oscar and steak au poivre. A perennial favorite is lobster basilica, tossed with mushrooms and tomatoes in a pesto cream sauce over fettuccine. Typical starters were tempura tuna skewers, scallops wrapped in smoked bacon, crab cakes with capers and armagnac sauce, and grilled portobello mushrooms. Desserts include crème brûlée, double chocolate parfait cake and white chocolate mousse. Weekend brunch is deservedly popular, and there’s no better place for enjoying it than the waterfront deck. (781) 639-1266. www.thelandingrestaurant.com.
Entrées, $17.95 to $26.95. Lunch, Monday-Friday 11:30 to 2:30. Dinner
nightly, 5 to 9 or 9:30. Weekend brunch, 11:30 to 3.
This kind of local hangout (a fixture since 1946) is not our cup of tea, but we're obviously in the minority because it's generally packed at all hours and the bar is a favorite watering hole, known for wickedly potent drinks. Except for the mural of Marblehead and the harbor at the foot of the stairs, the scene and the setting could be anywhere, which is probably why we don't find it particularly alluring. Nevertheless, for lunch you won't go wrong with the prize-winning clam chowder, a basic burger, grilled cheese or roast beef sandwich in the $2 to $5 range. You might be stunned to find a clam roll for $10.50 or Boston scrod for $13.95. The latter are also available at dinner, when the fare ranges from fish and chips to excellent fried scallops, a combination seafood platter, baked stuffed jumbo shrimp or Marblehead seafood pie. Hearty portions and a convivial seafarer's atmosphere draw the throngs. (781) 631-9824. Entrées, $8.95 to $15.95. Lunch,
Monday-Saturday 11:45 to 2, Sunday 11:45 to 4. Dinner, 5 to 10. Pub
serves continuously from 11:45 to 11:30. No credit cards.
Considered on a par with Maddie’s Sail Loft, this crowded, no-nonsense restaurant at least has a water view – one of the best in town. In fact, you can sit at a narrow counter running the width of the restaurant smack dab against the windows at the rear and feast on the panorama as you eat, or on a narrow, wraparound outdoor deck during the summer. The short menu stresses New England seafood basics, from lobster roll to fillet of haddock. Featured at dinner are such standards as haddock au gratin, broiled scallops, “jumbo shrimp scampi,” broiled sirloin, and surf and turf. All entrées are served with salad, potatoes, rolls and butter — “no substitutions.” The tables are almost on top of each other and the nondescript decor is vaguely nautical. Patrons at the small, crowded bar in front also get a good view. (781) 631-4236. Entrées, $10.95 to $18.95. Lunch
daily, 11 to 4:30. Dinner, 5 to 9 or 10. Closed Tuesday in winter. No
credit cards.
Colorful fish painted in the windows lure patrons into this up-and-down establishment that formerly housed Jacob Marley’s and later the Sandbar. It’s been up since it was taken over by Jeff Flynn, who also runs a seasonal family restaurant called Flynnie’s at the Beach at Devereux Beach. Here, dining is taken more seriously at polished, close-together tables amid antique mirrors and hand-painted glass in a convivial, homey setting with a curved bar in back. One of the best chefs in town, Louise Moore, a vegetarian, prepares an extensive menu at affordable prices. Her exotic salads are first-rate. Ditto for the grilled vegetarian rollup, the garden burger, the California chicken BLT and the blue cheese and turkey baguette. You can get things like those for lunch or dinner. The latter menu also adds quite a variety from scrod florentine to Southern fried chicken to grilled club steak au poivre. The surf and turf here combines steak tips and lobster pie. How about a novel vegetarian dish? The “farmer’s market barbecue” brings grilled potato, corn on the cob, a vegetable skewer, a spinach and grape tomato salad and watermelon, with a Jack Daniel’s barbecue sauce for dipping. We were impressed with the poppyseed-seared halibut with mango-yogurt drizzle and the “beach bowl” – with mussels, clams, scallops and shrimp sautéed with snap peas and grape tomatoes in a lemon-garlic-wine sauce over linguini. As Jeff says, with a meat-and-potatoes owner and vegetarians for a chef and manager, “crazy things have been known to happen.” (781) 639-2100. Entrées, $12 to $16. Lunch
daily, 11:30 to 4:30. Dinner nightly, from 4:30.
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