The Patio Is Open!!!

Come on down and enjoy drinks on the patio! This has got to be the earliest it's been open in the five years we've been here!! What a beautiful spring it'll be!!

Food Pics

Here's a link to some of the great things we've been doing in the Allora Kitchen. PICS

You Tube

Just a heads up to anyone who hasn't seen our YouTube channel there are some really great videos to check out. Click here to view them, and don't forget to subscribe!

Mangalitsa Hogs

These beautiful piggies are providing us with some tasty cheeks for our house cured Guanciale on the new menu. These heritage breed hogs can trace their European lineage all the way back to the early 1800's and are bread especially for their lard content, which makes em soooo good!!! Look for the Capellini Amatriciana with Guanciale, tomato, pepercino, and shaved parmesan  on our new dinner menu.

Charcuterie Program

With our new menu just a couple of weeks away we've decided to go "all in" with our cheese and charcuterie. Most of you already know that we've been making our own sausages and fresh mozzarella since we opened, but just recently started curing and smoking bacon, pork cheeks (guanciale), duck prosciutto, saucisson, coppa, and dry cured peperone. The peperone you see to left are the first slices we've tried and they are awesome. Look for all of this goodness on the menu update coming soon!
As far as the cheese goes, we will continue to stretch our own fresh mozzarella, and are in the process of building a cheese press for some fresh farmers style cheeses that will be on the cheese board this winter.

Spruce Up!!!

Thanks everyone for being so patient these last couple of days while we repainted and installed new carpeting throughout the restaurant! My iphone pics don't do it justice, so you'll have to come down and see for yourself.

Just putting the finishing touches on our fall/winter menu changes, so keep an eye out for that as well.

The Devils Shrimp!

Our Gamberoni Fra Diavolo for tonights special will take the chill right out of the air!!

Updating

Just want to give everyone a heads up that I will be updating the Chefs blog regularly after a somewhat long hiatus!! Keep an eye out for new posts!

This Is It!

With the onset of this beautiful spring weather, we've decided to open our patio early! Check out our Al Fresco Dining lakeside, our newest selection of craft beers, boutique wines, and our ever changing menu.

New Menu In The Works

Joe, Laura, and I have been making some new and exciting changes to our menu due out this fall. We've switched up our menu seasonally since opening and our newest menu looks to be one of our best. Some of the additions we're working on are espresso panna cotta with hazelnut whipped cream and dark chocolate, warm pumpkin bread pudding with brandy apple sauce, spice rubbed tenderloin with balsamic butter and hand cut fries, butternut ravioli with marscapone sage sauce, toasted hazelnuts and leeks, and a lot more. We're shooting for October first for the menu to be out but for those of you who know how the restaurant business goes, it might be a little longer than that!
Also, for all you wine enthusiasts out there, our latest wine dinner will be Tuesday, October 20th and will feature Italian wines exclusively. Call the restaurant at 508.485.4300 for all the info.

MORE BEER!!!

As microbrews continue to grow in popularity, we are moving some of our beers on tap to bottle and bringing in some new and tasty treats for metrowest beer lovers. Our two newest additions to our lines are Rapscallion and Stone Brewing Companys Smoked Porter. Rapscallion Premier is a deep golden Belgian-inspired ale. The flavor is a mixture of sweetness with some fruity undertones, spiciness and a light, underlying bitterness. At 4.5% alcohol by volume, Rapscallion Premier is a session beer which can be enjoyed any time of the year. The Stone Smoked Porter is "a rich, dark and delicious porter with chocolate and coffee overtones accented by a subtle smokiness from just the right amount of peat smoked malt. Unlike a rauchbier, the "smoke" in Stone Smoked Porter is an ELEMENT of the character rather than being THE character." Stop in for a taste and be sure to check the restaurants website for news of upcoming beer and wine dinners.

A Note On Scallops

Having been born in New Bedford, I've always loved scallops. Eating them now reminds me of home, and the fried seafood shacks me and my family used to visit so often. Unfortunately a lot of the scallops on menus these days are what are called "wet" scallops. These are scallops that have been allowed to sit in a solution of either salt water or sodium tripolyphosphate in order to increase their weight before they are either frozen or shipped in all that extra liquid. "Dry" scallops on the other hand have been shucked, cleaned, and shipped to us and other quality restaurants without any of the other unnecessary processing.

Next time you're ordering scallops ask your server if the scallops are wet or dry. If they don't have the answer have them check with the kitchen. If the kitchen doesn't know, you should probably be eating somewhere else.

Scallops should taste of the sea and have a sweet and buttery flavor, not be overly salty or rubbery and taste synthetic.

Our commitment here at Allora to use only dry sea scallops has made our Pan Seared Scallops with Fregola, Escarole, and Pesto one of the most popular dishes on our menu, and not compromising our other dishes with processed, frozen, and sub-par ingredients has been key to our continued success.

Wellfleet Oysters

Metro west oyster lovers rejoice! With our patio open and in full swing we are selling dozens and dozens of Wellfleet Oysters! Brought in fresh every morning these prized oysters have an unmistakable cape cod flavor that has been recongnized throughout the world for their briny sweetness. Fortunately for us who live and work in Massachusetts that these delicacies are so readily available and will be on our menu all summer. Come in for a dozen with one of our new beers on tap, or enjoy them on our chilled seafood platter with white gulf shrimp.

"The True Natural"

At Allora we take pride in the quality of products we use in each dish. In today's economy, some restaurants try to cut corners by sacrificing quality. We view this as an opportunity to showcase one of our best assets, our commitment to serve sustainably raised, all natural steaks from Brandt Beef.

Our guests have commented that Allora's 16oz Grilled Strip Steak beats any filet they've ever had, and we couldn't agree more. Care not only goes into the way our steaks are prepared, but also how they are raised. Wine enthusiasts will wax poetically about soil and climate playing a large role in defining how a great wine will taste. The same can be said for all natural beef, organic produce, free range chickens, and artisan cheeses. We feel that now is not the time to cut corners for the sake of saving a few pennies, but to continue investing in what we have done since our inception. Cook great food with the best products we can find and provide our guests with a dining experience that they will want to repeat again and again.

Great Tomatoes! Finally!

Our produce distributor has just started delivering beautiful vine ripened tomatoes after about a two month lag in supply. Nothing goes better with out homemade fresh mozzarella than these Maine beauties. Grown in Madison Maine at Backyard Farms using sustainable technologies, these tomatoes have been greatly missed this winter. We're glad to have them back!