Frank and Nick’s
If you're going to bet and watch a game at Encore in Everett, you need lucky sports fan friendly food, and knocking it out of the park is Frank and Nick’s.
The Frank is Frank DePasquale. He owns some of the best restaurants in the North End, including Mare and Bricco.
“There's nothing like joining forces. Two great friends joining together to make one great concept, which is Frank and Nick’s.”
Nick is Nick Varano, my pal who owns Strega on Hanover Street.
“Well, me and Nick are partners in crime, and the crime of working together and the crime of enjoying the hospitality business.
Well, what we did is we brought a little bit from both of our concepts into one location. And I think that's the magic of it all. “
The paninis here are amazing because they bake their own bread fresh every morning. I'm telling you, that's a lost art. Almost nobody does that anymore.
The most popular sandwich here is the steak and cheese. They make their steak and cheese with a USDA prime-aged ribeye. Ribeye is different than other cuts of steak. It has more fat, so it has a lot of flavor. This one is very tender. They add in the peppers, onions, and cheese. It is a great sandwich.
"Steak and cheese, that would be a sandwich that I would travel long and far. "
Frank and Nick’s pride themselves on bringing a taste of the North End here to Encore. So you gotta make a great chicken parm. They do theirs a little bit differently. They Take the chicken, slice it up, almost like chicken fingers, add that really high-quality mozzarella and some basil on that fresh baked bread. They're doing the North End proud with this one.
"Wow, the chicken parm from the first bite, and believe me, there will not be a last bite, because I think you will enjoy it from the beginning to the middle to the end. "
Here's one of my Italian favorites. This is 18 month aged prosciutto with basil, buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes and some extra virgin olive oil.
"You have mozzarella that's made here on the premise, you have garden tomatoes. You have extra virgin olive oil… and you put it with fresh bread. I mean, how can you say no to that sandwich? I think that would probably be your first choice."
If you got a hotel at Encore, you want to have lunch and take a nap, get the meatball Panini, Four giant meatballs. These are Nick Varano's mom's recipe, won awards all over the place. And it's got provolone cheese, mozzarella cheese, a little bit of ricotta marinara sauce. Wow.
In Naples, Italy, they've been perfecting the margarita pizza for 150 years. It has basil and mozzarella. It's cooked in that 800 degree brick oven, giving it those beautiful brown cheese bubbles and that thin, crispy crust. But the real magic is the San Marzano tomatoes, grown in that volcanic soil. It gives it a sweetness and an acidity. Then they hand crush the tomatoes. It is just perfect for a pie.
When you have that border around the pizza, Alright, with that crunch. I mean, you're getting a little bit of all the entities that make a great pizza, a great pizza.
That is a heavenly slice of pizza.
The Sunday dinner has got to be the best thing on the menu here. First of all, it is served in the pan. I think everything tastes better when it's served in the pan. Frank and Nick say this is the best pasta you can possibly import from Italy. This sauce is as hearty as you get.
It's got lamb pork, veal and beef. There's a big meatball and a sausage. I'm glad they serve this seven days a week because when I'm craving it, I cannot wait until Sunday.
They make a lot of great fresh pastry. Here, my favorite is the croissant with ricotta inside… but maybe even a little bit sweeter than that. Served with powdered sugar, definitely a flavor jackpot.
This is just so flaky and light you have the crispy shell and that delicious creamy ricotta inside, the best of both flavor worlds.
You got to get the Espresso Martini here. First of all, Encore is open 24/7. So it's a perfect way to keep the party going. Second, Bricco, in the North End, perfected this recipe over years and years and millions of espresso martinis. It got so popular they're selling it at hundreds of stores in Massachusetts now. Third, it comes with three coffee beans for luck. So it's the perfect beverage before you hit the tables.
"It took us three years to make it perfect, and I believe that it is perfect now."
My two best bets at Encore, bet every Boston team to win the championship. I mean, we win at least one title a year, and definitely try the pizza and paninis at Frank and Nick’s.
