Table Mercato

I think from growing up, I knew that I always wanted to do something in food. I actually had a little restaurant in my bedroom when I was six years old. And I remember hearing my mother tell my two brothers in the hallway, here's some money, go buy something from your sister. I used to save the McDonald's french fry wrappers, and I would fill them with erasers and I would sell my brother eraser french fries. But then again, I grew up the biggest sports fan. I had two brothers, and of course, my father, I grew up watching the Bruins and the Celtics and the Patriots. So I said, I would either be a sports reporter or a chef and I ended up being both which has been really incredible and I'm very fortunate.

I love sports reporting. And I ended up catering for five years never wanted a restaurant, but I was doing a job at this woman's house and she said to me, if I had a table for 20, I would have a dinner at my house for my husband and I said that's it. I'm going to open up a restaurant that has a table for 20 and people can come in and they can celebrate. So that's how Table happened.

At Table the concept is that you pretty much get everything. So it's eight courses, one price per person. You're most likely going to get a pasta course. You're going to get a cheese course. You're definitely going to get a table meatball. The vegetable rotates and it's usually something like a big stuffed artichoke. You're going to get some sorbet in the middle to help cleanse your palate after you eat our seafood course. Definitely filling if you don't like one thing on the menu, you'll be fine. You'll still be full. There's enough to go around and all of that yummy goodness led us to opening up the Mercato.

When people walk into the Mercato, it can be a little overwhelming. It's a small store but it's packed with a lot of stuff. I think the timing was right given the climate right now to do you know a takeout market. It's been really nice to see people who don't want to cook at home, don't know how to cook but don't want to go out to dinner, kind of sick of getting takeout, now they can come into the Mercato. They can get meatballs. They can get a piece of lasagna. They can get eggplant rollatini. They can get so many great things that they can warm up. Throw them in the oven. They can keep in the fridge for a week. It's just kind of like your one stop shop.

I think the great thing about Table Mercato is the fact that everything is homemade. Everything's made from scratch.

People come in to the restaurant and the Mercato and tell us we have literally the best meatball they ever had on their lives. And I think the key to making great meatballs is that we don't pack them very tightly. We try to get them as light and airy as possible. I will tell you we do use pork and veal and beef so I think the three meats make a world of difference. I knew I had a good meatball when my brother Chris ate one and he actually started crying. And I said what are you crying about and he said this tastes like grandma's

I don't know what the chicken cutlet craze is but it has taken Table Mercato by storm. I personally think the process is pretty simple. We get them as thin as we can. I think the egg and the bread crumb is pretty basic. And then we fry them at a certain temperature that it doesn't get too overcooked on the outside. They come out perfectly golden brown and they're salted right away and they're juicy in the middle. They are just phenomenal. We are selling so many chicken cutlets that people are buying them by the half dozen. They're literally sold in pastry boxes. So if you're walking down the street and you see somebody with a Table Mercato pastry box, there's a good chance that those are not filled with cannolis they're actually filled with chicken cutlets.

So our lasagna, it was something I didn't want to do but my mom kept saying you should do lasagna you should do lasagna, everybody loves lasagna and it's so easy. So if it's so easy, then you can make it. We make about five a week and the pieces are enormous. We use fresh pasta we fill it with ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, provolone and mozzarella shredded blend, and we do about seven or eight layers and it's just covered in tomato sauce. When you bite into it. It's just it's so hearty. It's really amazing.

Oddly enough, I think that food kind of shows me I'm constantly looking at how to do different things, how to prepare different things, you know, different ingredients. I want people to say there was so much variety, you know, I got this for my mother and I got this for dinner and then I had this the next day for lunch and for people who don't want to go out to dinner it really is the perfect spot to just come in and grab some goodies.