A lovely room located at the mouth of Hanover, it bills itself as a mix of Italian and Peruvian cuisines and routinely fights for the top billing as best Italian of Boston. I chose it specifically due to its bizarre pedigree – and if nothing else, I’m always looking for something unusual.

I just want to start by saying that the service was absolutely fantastic! She was always checking on us, incredibly perceptive and always open with suggestions. They were featuring an entree special of pumpkin ravioli with duck confit – 2 of my absolute favourite flavours – so I ordered it as an appetizer (ravioli dishes rarely if ever fill me up), and was recommended the sugar-cane-brined pork chops as their house specialty which I went ahead with. My friend ordered the pan-roasted mussels to start (with Sicilian Marsala, and tossed with pancetta and roasted shallots).

We were served the ubiquitous foccacia with oil – and honestly, the bread was forgettable. It was thick, tasteless and blah. The oil had no flavour to it so dipping just gave me greasy bread.

The appetizers came and we tucked in. I had fairly high expectations for my dish… and sadly they were not met. The brodo was too salty and overpowered the dish. The pumpkin ravioli didn’t have enough flavour in it to be able to compensate, and the duck confit was just there. A good idea in general (though more of a fall dish really than a winter one) but the execution just wasn’t quite there. My friend’s mussels dish however was met with cries of “these are the best mussels I’ve ever had” and some additional rejoicical expletives that I’d rather not repeat here.

The mains arrived and I will admit – the menu certianly mentioned it was a double-cut pork chop, but holy hell this mother was HUGE! Brined with sugar cane and served with a fried yucca cake, giant Peruvian corn kernels, sauteed spinach and caramelized onions – I separted the meat from the bone and tucked into my first piece from that area… and… … … with that one bite, I became a believer in brining (yes Alton, feel free to smile and say “I told you so”). Each bite exploded in an orgy of sweet honey that had infused itself into the entirety of the meat. I had not previously known such flavour until that moment. It was mind-shattering, and just a touch euphoric. All was not perfect though – with something this large that was also grilled – the outside rim of the pork was very dry and overcooked, the rim of fat surrounding it offering a slight shielding from total inedibility, but the middle was nicely tender and still immensely flavourful. The sides were matched up perfectly with the spinach and onions complementing the sweetness of the meat and sauce, while the yucca offered a crunchy contrast while also sopping up all the sauce on the plate. The corn kernels were far too starchy though and I took a pass. My friend seemed to enjoy his lobster ravioli in a creamy tomato sauce topped with shrimp. I was too busy endulging myself in my sweet pork to ask any more details unfortunately.

Now for dessert – they offered a special hazelnut cake wrapped in a chocolate wall with hazelnut ganache inside and dipped in espresso and Kahlua. My initial bite consisted of all the components… and I found that the chocolate overpowered everything. I adjusted by eating from the inside-out, and that worked much better. The hazelnut flavour wasn’t overpowering at all and just offered a perfect degree of sweetness and bitterness from the omniprescent espresso (I could fill an espresso cup just by squeezing the cake). Once I had finished that, then I set upon the chocolate shell as an aperatif.

Each dish was well thought-out, but the execution just missed that extra step or two to really get to perfection. With just a wee bit more planning and care, it would hit the mark of 4-stars, but for now, 3-stars is all they get. A good recommend from me, with prayer of greatness in the future.