Category: Food

New York eats

Sunny Side Up Deli now open in Nashua

A New York-style sandwich shop with a unique New England twist, Sunny Side Up Deli, now open in Nashua, features local and regional breads, vegetables, coffees and other items to complement a full line of Boar’s Head brand premium cold cuts, cheeses, soups and salads. The eatery opened its doors last month in the former space of the Beadles Bead Shop & Boutique on Amherst Street, according to manager Tristan Hoffler.

The Boar’s Head line, founded in New York City more than a century ago, was a must for Sunny Side Up Deli to carry, Hoffler said, due to its quality and connection to The Big Apple. All breakfast and lunch sandwiches are made to order with freshly sliced meats, nothing precut, and served on breads from Tripoli Bakery of Lawrence, Mass. Gluten-free breads, buns and wraps from other purveyors, like LaMarca Bakery of Malden, Mass., are currently being tested.

“Our sandwiches are all perfectly layered … with meat, cheese and veggies,” Hoffler said. “You go to Subway or any other place like that around and you won’t find sandwiches like ours.”

Most of Sunny Side Up Deli’s offerings are named after Nashua area streets or points of interest — the Central Street, for example, is a traditional panini-pressed Reuben with freshly sliced corned beef, melted Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing on rye bread, while the Mine Falls sandwich features turkey, roast beef, capocollo, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onions, sundried tomatoes and a basil mayonnaise.

All of the sandwiches come with a bag of chips, a pickle spear and a small serving of Boar’s Head salad, like coleslaw or tortellini salad. The menu also includes grab-and-go salads, as well as a few breakfast sandwich options that are available all day, like a traditional over-easy egg and cheese sandwich with either bacon, sausage, ham or turkey, and A Better Morning, which features egg, cheese, bacon, peppers and onions on a kaiser roll.

Hot coffee from Wicked Joe of Topsham, Maine, is made fresh daily, and the plan is for Sunny Side Up to eventually expand to iced coffees and espresso drinks.

“[Wicked Joe has] 100 percent organic fair-trade coffee beans,” Hoffler said. “We picked them because we wanted to make sure that our coffee came from a good source.”

The deli has made fresh desserts in house, like cookies and parfaits, and will soon be offering knishes, or Jewish deep-fried potato-filled snack foods that are popular in New York.

Sunny Side Up Deli
Where: 427 Amherst St., Unit 9, Nashua
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
More info: Visit sunnysideupnh.com, find them on Facebook @sunnysideupdelinh or call 417-7145

Featured photo:The Central Street: corned beef, melted Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing on rye. Photo by Matt Ingersoll.

Coffee and community

McLaughlin’s Country Market opens in Concord

Photo by Matt Ingersoll.

While looking for a commercial property to start his own coffee roastery, David McLaughlin came across a vacant storefront in East Concord — the old Quality Cash Market, which closed more than two years ago. In July, he and partner Tiffani McIntosh decided to check out the space and see what they could do with it.

“One of our biggest visions … was that it needed to be a place for the locals, in a comfortable, neighborhood setting,” McIntosh said.

McLaughlin’s Country Market, which opened on Nov. 17, features fresh coffees roasted onsite, in addition to groceries, beer and wine, and a diverse selection of locally made products — and coming soon, a Nadeau’s sub shop. McLaughlin is a longtime friend of franchise owner Jeremy Nadeau, who has five other locations in the state.

McIntosh said the market has already had a tremendous amount of support.

“Even before we opened, people had been coming to the door and asking us when we are opening and what’s going to be here, so we’ve been developing relationships for two months,” she said.

Freshly roasted in house under the name Second Love Coffee, the coffees at the market are part of a passion project for McLaughlin. With varying flavors and degrees of sweetness and acidity, each blend is available for self-serve pouring, or you can get any of them as small batches of bean or ground coffee for home use, prepared fresh on the Java Master roaster in real time.

“You can generate all kinds of flavors out of one bean, just by roasting it differently,” said McLaughlin, who has been home-roasting on and off for several years and gets his green coffee beans from Colombia and Costa Rica. “The Java Master is nice because you can roast one to six pounds at a time, so you could come in and say, ‘Can I get three pounds of this bean,’ and then have it roasted while you’re waiting, or [you could] pick it up the next day.”

While McLaughlin’s doesn’t have a butcher shop like its predecessor, a variety of pre-packaged sliced meats are for sale out of the market’s grocery area, as well as basic items like milk, eggs, bread, cheeses, produce, snacks, sodas and pastries. There is also a special section dedicated to products made in New Hampshire — McIntosh has worked with local purveyors of barbecue sauces, doughnuts, maple syrups, goat milk soaps and other items to stock the shelves with.

You’ll find the new Nadeau’s order counter near the back of the building. While that is expected to be fully operational very soon, according to McIntosh, Nadeau’s in the meantime has provided the market with cold sandwiches for sale and is currently training employees at other shop locations to come work in Concord. She said plans will likely be in the works soon to arrange a joint takeout service of items between Nadeau’s and McLaughlin’s.

“Let’s say you’re out of milk, and you want to pick up a sub for dinner while you’re here. We can collaborate and you can get whatever grocery items you need,” she said.

McLaughlin said he and McIntosh have already seen their fair share of repeat customers in just a short period of time being open.

“It’s definitely more of a little shopping market for the neighborhood versus a lot of transient business coming and going and you might not see them again,” he said.

McLaughlin’s Country Market
Where: 11 Eastman St., Concord
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
More info: Find them on Facebook @mclaughlinscountrymarket or email [email protected]

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The Weekly Dish 20/12/03

News from the local food scene

• More Greek eats to go: Join St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (1160 Bridge St., Manchester) for Lamb on the Run, a drive-thru pickup luncheon happening on Sunday, Dec. 6, from noon to 2 p.m. Meals are $20 and include baked leg of lamb au jus, served with rice pilaf, green beans in red sauce and a Greek salad. Pre-order by calling 925-2692 or emailing [email protected]. In Concord, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church (68 N. State St.) will host its next drive-up Greek dinner to go on Sunday, Dec. 13, from noon to 1 p.m. (pre-ordering by Dec. 9 is required). That meal will feature lenten- or meat-stuffed grape leaves, Greek-style roasted vegetables and a dessert and is $15 per person. Call 953-3051 or email [email protected].

• Takeout every Tuesday: As a new initiative to support city restaurants throughout this upcoming winter season, Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, in partnership with Intown Manchester and the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, recently announced a social media campaign called Manchester Takeout Tuesdays, according to a press release. “With Manchester Takeout Tuesdays, our city can come together to safely support our restaurant community while also containing the spread of Covid-19,” Craig said in a statement.

• Bakery will challenge fine: A Bedford bakery is challenging a $500 fine it received last week from the state Attorney General’s office for an alleged coronavirus emergency order violation, according to a press release. Simply Delicious Baking Co. will receive financial support from the Mont Vernon-based Liberty Defense Fund of New Hampshire to fight the fine, which was issued following an alleged violation of Emergency Order No. 52, by not requiring customer service staff to wear masks or face-coverings when directly interacting with customers. The bakery, according to the violation letter, had until Nov. 30 to pay the $500 penalty. “We have taken a number of precautions to keep our space safe, including the recommended social distancing,” bakery owner Alexa Firman said in a statement. “The mask mandate goes against my inspiration for starting this business: to build a face-to-face community space … and I believe people who make the choice to come in and enjoy that environment should have the right to do so.”

• New local shrub release: Djinn Spirits (2 Townsend West, Suite 9, Nashua) recently announced the release of a new product, Winter Sun, a mango rosemary shrub, according to a press release. The third product in Djinn’s Codename series, Winter Sun became available at the distillery on Nov. 10. According to the release, shrubs are drinks that date back hundreds of years and typically pair a fruit with vinegar and other flavors. Winter Sun’s flavor profile features vinegar that is offset by the sweetness of the mango, and rosemary to build complexity with an aromatic savory note. Visit djinnspirits.com.

In the kitchen with Melinda Sergi

Melinda Sergi of Concord is the owner of The Cannoli Stop Cafe & Bakery (239 Loudon Road, Concord, 224-9706, find them on Facebook), which opened in its current location in January after being in business for nearly two years a mile down the road. In addition to featuring a full pastry case of cheesecakes, cupcakes, chocolate-dipped Oreos and more than 30 types of homemade cannoli fillings, the shop has expanded its offerings since reopening to include subs, calzone turnovers, soups, pastas and other homemade dinners to go. All cannolis are made fresh to order — you can simply choose a small or large-sized shell, then pick your fillings and toppings. Fillings run the gamut from traditional and chocolate chip to caramel, blueberry, pumpkin and cotton candy.

What is your must-have kitchen item?
I use rubber spatulas for everything. We have piles of them.

What would you have for your last meal?
I’d probably say just a slice of pizza. I love pizza with sausage and onions.

What is your favorite local restaurant?
Vinnie’s Pizza in Concord.

What celebrity would you like to see ordering from your shop?
Sandra Bullock.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?
The cannolis top everything. I love the orange zest flavor and the chocolate-dipped shell. We’ve had orange zest from the beginning.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
Takeout is the big thing right now, [like] subs, sandwiches, pizza, that kind of stuff.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?
I love to make a full meal for the family, like a shepherd’s pie or a turkey dinner.

Photo courtesy of the Cannoli Stop Cafe & Bakery.

Chocolate-dipped Oreos
From the kitchen of Melinda Sergi of The Cannoli Stop Cafe & Bakery
1½ pounds chocolate of choice (milk, dark or white)
1 bag of Oreos (any flavor)
Toppings like sprinkles, coconut shavings or chopped candies (optional)
Melt chocolate using a double boiler and dip in Oreo flavor of choice. While chocolate is still wet, add any optional toppings. One and a half pounds of chocolate yields about 30 Oreos, which make great dessert trays for events.

Featured Photo: Melinda Sergi

When life gives you lemons, bake cookies

Salem’s Fabrizia Spirits launches line of limoncello-infused baked goods

Fabrizia Spirits Baking Co. Photos by Mark Feldman.

When Fabrizia Spirits co-owner Phil Mastroianni started to look ahead to what is normally a quiet winter season for the Salem limoncello producer, he turned to his younger brother Nick with an ambitious idea.
“We’ve been cooking and baking with our limoncello for years,” he said. “When we first started Fabrizia 11 years ago, we would do tastings at some of the liquor stores … and I would bake a limoncello cake and give out samples of it. So I said to Nick that we should start a baking company with our limoncello, and from there it didn’t take too much convincing for him.”
The Fabrizia Lemon Baking Co., which launched on Nov. 5, will feature a full selection of baked goods infused with Fabrizia limoncello that will be introduced over time. The company started with Italian limoncello cookies made from a family recipe, followed by limoncello whoopie pies. More lemon-flavored goodies like cakes and biscotti are expected to be added soon.
Utilizing space the company had recently acquired during a production expansion, Fabrizia added a commercial oven and received a food service license from the Town of Salem.
The cookies are baked fresh every day with all-natural ingredients, including real cane sugar, butter, eggs and lemon zest from freshly squeezed Sicilian lemons. The alcohol from the limoncello that’s used is baked off, making the cookies suitable for consumption of all ages, according to Mastroianni. They come in packages of six, each one weighing individually just over three ounces, and are available for online ordering and shipping.
“We wanted it to be kind of a luxury treat item and not just another run-of-the-mill cookie,” he said. “People really like the crispy exterior and the soft inside. … The lemon zest also makes it unique. When you’re able to use fresh lemon zest, it makes a great difference.”
Shortly after debuting the cookies, Fabrizia introduced lemon whoopie pies. Those feature a lemon cake with the limoncello worked right into the batter, while the cream filling is made from a combination of confectioner’s sugar, marshmallow and finely chopped lemon zest. Each ¼-pound whoopie pie is wrapped individually and can last frozen for up to a year.
By early December, Mastroianni said, the company expects to roll out limoncello biscotti integrated with almonds, a recipe inspired by the two brothers’ grandmother. The baked goods add to Fabrizia’s growing product line, which includes multiple types of limoncello flavors and ready-to-drink canned limoncello-infused cocktails.
From each order placed on Fabrizia’s new baking website, $1 will be donated to Feeding America, a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks across the country.

Fabrizia Lemon Baking Co.
Visit fabrizialemonbakingcompany.com, find them on Facebook and Instagram @fabrizialemonbakingco or call 458-1745 to purchase products, which include limoncello cookies, whoopie pies and other infused baked goods.

Featured photo: Fabrizia Spirits Baking Co. Photos by Mark Feldman.

The Weekly Dish 20/11/26

News from the local food scene

• Support local brews: Granite State craft breweries will once again observe Small Brewery Sunday on Sunday, Nov. 29. The day was created by the Brewers Association as a way to encourage beer lovers to celebrate and support locally owned breweries, brewpubs and taprooms, according to a press release. The Association is inviting breweries everywhere, including those in New Hampshire, to share Small Brewery Sunday on their social media channels using the hashtags #SmallBrewerySunday and #SeekTheSeal. In 2019 the craft brewing industry contributed $82.9 billion to the U.S. economy, but amid the pandemic sales have been down about 22 percent in the third quarter of 2020, according to the release. The New Hampshire Brewers Association is also continuing its NH Pint Days fundraiser through Wednesday, Dec. 2, featuring limited-edition collectible 16-ounce pint glasses available at more than 40 participating breweries in the state. Visit smallbrewerysunday.com.

• Emergency order violations: Three New Hampshire eateries were each fined $500 for not complying with coronavirus emergency orders, according to violation letters issued this week by the state Attorney General’s office. Checkmate Pizza in Concord, Simply Delicious Baking Co. in Bedford and What a Bagel in Nashua all received notices of civil penalties for alleged violations of Emergency Order No. 52, including not requiring customer service staff to wear masks or face-coverings when directly interacting with customers, according to a press release. Each establishment, which received multiple warnings to follow the order, has until Nov. 30 to pay the fine.

• Turkey Drive fundraiser: The Bedford Knights of Columbus, along with members of St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church in Bedford, joined forces to raise $10,808 during their annual Turkey Drive to benefit the New Hampshire Food Bank, a program of Catholic Charities New Hampshire, according to a press release. Since donating a few turkeys more than 10 years ago, the Bedford Knights of Columbus’s initiative to support the food bank has grown immensely, raising more than $123,000 over the last decade to help meet holiday food needs in the state. “Partnerships like this are critical in helping us feed our neighbors experiencing hunger,” New Hampshire Food Bank executive director Eileen Groll Liponis said in a statement. As a result of increased demand, the Food Bank expects to continue increasing its food distribution statewide, according to the release.

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