Tony & Elaine’s
Remember when meatballs melted in your mouth.
When mozzarella sticks stretched for miles.
And when a plate of chicken parm was more like a mountain.
“It’s a classic. It’s a favorite and people love it.”
And it was all served in a place where the walls were wooden.
The table cloths were checkered.
And the wine came wrapped in a basket.
“It’s giving you that nostalgia. Its reminiscent. Its romantic.”
Well all those old school vibes are alive and well at Boston’s hottest new Italian restaurant; Tony and Elaine’s.
Tony & Elaine’s may be new to the North End, but feels like it’s been in the neighborhood for decades…
Because owner Nick Fratteroli wanted to bring back the classic red sauce restaurants he grew up with.
“”I think it’s reminiscent of the 70s 80s. Probably what people think of when they thought of what the North End was. Think red and white checkered tablecloths. Think bottles of chianti. Large Christmas lights in the basement. We have pictures of friends and family, Italian soccer jerseys hanging on the wall definitely all these different elements that means something to me.”
And according to director of operations Justin Powers, this throwback decor is far cry from what you’ll find at most new restaurants.
“All these things people have gotten away from because they fell a little bit kitchty, but they’re so defining of that time that the second you walk in you know exactly what this concept is. but you might not know if we’re new or if we’ve been here for 40 years.”
Tony & Elaine’s is named after Nick’s parents, who grew up working in North End restaurants and the old school menu here proudly offers all of your red sauce favorites.
“This is a menu that you’ve seen before you’ve eaten this food before. Your mother has probably cooked it, your grandmother has. But using these ingredients and these techniques that we use here, it’s going to taste a little bit better. It’s going to be familiar, but unexpectedly good.”
So starters include plates of crispy fried calamari served alongside marinara.
Mussels spiked with plenty of pancetta in a white wine sauce.
And arancini made like it outta be.
“We’re using fantastic arborio rice. We cook it down with shallots, garlic, butter, wine, and all those flavors come together to form the perfect rice ball. We do some parmesan cheese, fontina cheese and a little hint of our bolognese sauce just to give it a little meatiness in the middle. You crack them open their they’re just they’re just perfectly cooked. They’re delicious.
But nothing will make you want to mangia quite like the Mozzarella sticks.
“The mozzarella sticks are huge. They’re like logs. I mean they’re they’re bigger than any mozzarella stick you’ve had. We use fresh mozzarella, they’re hand breaded to order, fried to perfection. The cheese is stringing and gooey and it comes with our house made marinara sauce. And that’s one of the dishes that when it comes through the dining room, it’s a head turner.”
Even a simple side salad gets a retro makeover, because at Tony and Elaine’s, it comes in a throwback wooden bowl.
“We serve it in a wooden bowl. The only place I’ve ever seen that wooden bowl is on my grandmother’s house. We weren’t sure if we could find them. But when we did we I think we bought everyone that was that was available to us.”
Of course, pasta is a must when dining in the North End…and Tony and Elaine definitely bring it.
There’s orecchiette tossed with housemade sasuage, broccoli rabe and tomatoes.
The simple, satisfying and sensational Cacio e Pepe.
And the epitome of Italian American eats, Spaghetti and Meatballs, made from a time tested family recipe.
“We use a mix of our day old bread crumbs and panko breadcrumbs, ground beef, some pork, there’s even a little bit of prosciutto in there, some grated Parmesan cheese, parsley, chili flakes, and then they’re slow cooked for three hours in our marinara sauce. They’re made every single day they’re not frozen. And when you eat the meatball you bite into it and you just taste it.”
Other entrees include flavor packed Veal Saltimboca topped with proscuitto in a lemon caper sauce….
Fruitti di Mare loaded up with fresh cod, mussels, clams and shrimp.
And one of the biggest and best chicken parms around.
“Chicken parm, again dish that everybody’s eaten 1000 times. And rather than try and do it differently, we just try and do it well. You get two chicken breasts that are pounded out thin, fried to perfection. topped with fresh mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce. It’s as simple as that. It comes over to the table it looks like a feed a family of four. You’re guaranteed to have leftovers and and people love it.”
And at dessert, nothing says old school North End quite like a Cannoli. And at Tony & Elaine’s they offer a few options.
“We do we do a classic cannoili but we do it three ways. The first one is it just traditional ricotta with chocolate chip, we do a pistachio that has pistachio filling and crumbled pistachios in the end. And then my favorite is a Nutella cannoli with a Nutella filling and fresh hazelnuts crumbled on the end.”
And that’s sweet ending to a delicious trip down memory lane with Tony and Elaine.
