Category: Food

Bistro 603 to open soon in Nashua

A new eatery coming soon to Nashua, Bistro 603 will offer an eclectic menu of scratch-made appetizers, entrees, cocktails and weekend brunch items when it opens in the coming weeks.

Owner Jeff Abellard and chef Jason Duffy refer to its environment as upscale yet casual. Both men are part of a close-knit restaurant team that has run Bistro 781 on Moody Street in downtown Waltham, Mass., for the past five years.

Bistro 603, Abellard said, is nearly double the size of its Massachusetts counterpart, with bar seating, table dining, an outdoor patio and space for two private rooms. The menu, while similar to that of Bistro 781’s, remains diverse, ranging from small shareable plates to larger meals with optional wine pairings.

“You can have a special dinner with your family … or you can just sit and have a drink with your buddies at the bar,” said Duffy, who has more than two decades of experience in the kitchen. “Anything you want to do here, we can accommodate you.”

Appetizers will include seafood options like fried oysters, clams and crab cakes, as well as potato and ricotta mushroom gnocchi, sweet and spicy barbecue rubbed chicken wings, and steak bomb spring rolls served in a Parmesan peppercorn dipping sauce. The menu is further divided into sections for salads and bowls, for burgers and sandwiches, and for tacos.

“We do a Cuban sandwich, a quinoa burger, and a burger with fried oysters on top of it that’s delicious,” Abellard said. “We also do what we call a Crunch Wrap burger, so it’s actually a burger with a crunchy taco shell around it.”

Tacos will be available with either braised pork belly, braised short rib, tuna tartare, batter-fried haddock, or as vegetarian options with either crispy cauliflower or sauteed vegetables. In addition to house and Caesar salads, there will be a strawberry and watermelon salad; a Mediterranean grain bowl with grilled artichoke and hummus; and a seasoned street corn bowl.

The larger plates will include several staples, like the seafood paella with chicken, chorizo and shellfish; the braised short ribs with potato and ricotta gnocchi, truffled mushroom cream sauce and roasted Brussels sprouts; and the steak frites with smoked tomato chimichurri. There will also be a number of pastas, all made in house, like the Bolognese with veal, pork and pancetta and the sauteed chicken fettuccine with white wine garlic cream sauce.

A separate brunch menu will be available every Saturday and Sunday, according to Abellard. That will include several savory options like omelets, Benedicts and breakfast sandwiches. Other featured items will be the short rib or duck hash with eggs and challah toast; and the shrimp and grits with chorizo, aged cheddar and bacon and sweet pepper relish.

Some of the more notable changes specific to Bistro 603’s menu, Abellard said, have to do with the weekly specials it will feature, as well as its beers and wines. There will be almost twice as many lines on draft, with more options from New Hampshire breweries. A complete brunch cocktail menu of mimosas, espresso martinis and other drinks will be available too.

Two dining areas within the restaurant — one small room and one larger room — are separated by large sliding wooden doors. Abellard said that while tables in these rooms can be reserved for private parties or functions, they’ll be otherwise open to all diners.

“If you’re just having a small little get-together, you can use the smaller room … or, if it’s a larger party, you can open it up and kind of share both rooms,” he said. “We’d also like to build a night crowd … where we bring in some acoustic music, and we’ll have a late night menu.”

Bistro 603
An opening date is expected in the coming weeks. Visit the website or follow them on social media for updates.

Where: 345 Amherst St., No. 1, Nashua
Hours: TBA
More info: Visit bistro603nashua.com, find them on Facebook and Instagram, or email owner Jeff Abellard at jeff@bistro603nashua.com

Taste of the Region returns to Derry

EVENT UPDATE:
Just after going to press on Tuesday, July 14th, Taste of the Region organizers announced that they have made the event virtual. For updated details, visit http://derry-chamber.chambermaster.com/events/details/taste-of-the-region-gone-virtual-11796

More than two dozen local restaurants, breweries and other businesses will be vying for your vote during the annual Taste of the Region. After its initial cancellation in April, the festival will return to Derry’s Tupelo Music Hall on Tuesday, July 21.
Normally held inside the venue, the Taste of the Region is moving outdoors this year to accommodate social distancing regulations.
“Exhibitors will be set up in the parking lot similar to guests at a show at the Tupelo, so people can pass by in both directions without being too close to each other,” said Ashley Haseltine, president of the Greater Derry Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event.
Whenever possible, all foods will be packaged individually grab-and-go style, while beverages will be offered in single-use sample cups. Each sample falls under one of three categories — “savory,” “sips” or “sweets” — and vendors can opt to participate in one, two or all three. “‘Savory’ is more of an entree-type food option,” Haseltine said. “‘Sips’ can be any beverage, alcoholic or non-alcoholic … and then ‘sweets’ is any type of dessert. It’s always a great variety. … The fun thing with this event is that sometimes restaurants bring something that people didn’t even realize they offered, and then for the breweries it’s usually whatever kind of specialty brew they have at the moment.”
If you’ve attended the event in the past, you’ll see some returning vendors and a few new faces. Kiss the Cook Macaroni & Cheese, a Derry-based business offering homemade macaroni and cheese; The Nutrition Corner, a Derry shop offering protein smoothies and teas that opened late last year; and the Daydreaming Brewing Co. of Derry, which was launched earlier this year by Andy Day and Alana Wentworth of Cask & Vine, are all among this year’s newcomers.
Casa Java Cafe of Derry, which has participated in the event previously, will be returning this year, offering multiple flavors of crepes. They’ll have their warm cinnamon apple crepe, their fruity Nutella crepe with strawberry banana, and their house Casa Java crepe with blackberry and arequipe (Colombian caramel sauce).
The Grind Rail Trail Cafe, also of Derry, will be serving a savory option and an entry into the “sips” category, most likely a cold brew or other coffee offering. Rig A’ Tony’s Italian Takeout, another returning participant, has in the past featured a display of desserts like whoopie pies and coconut macaroons.
All exhibitors and tasters are asked to wear a mask or face-covering while in the event area in the parking lot. Instead of stopping in front of each booth to try their samples, Haseltine said, everyone is asked to use one of two designated tents with tables to sit down and eat at. Members of Servpro of Derry and Londonderry, one of the event’s sponsors, will be regularly sanitizing tables and chairs throughout the evening.
Each taster will be given a paper ballot on which to write their votes for each category. Haseltine said winners will be announced on social media within a week.

Taste of the Region
When: Tuesday, July 21, 5 to 7:30 p.m.
Where: Tupelo Music Hall parking lot, 10 A St., Derry
Cost: $35 admittance per person (includes full access to food and drink tastings; purchasing tickets in advance is encouraged, with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Kyle B. Ross Memorial Scholarship Fund)
Visit: gdlchamber.org

Participating food and beverage vendors
• 603 Brewery (Londonderry, 603brewery.com)
• Amphora Restaurant (Derry, amphoranh.com)
• Aroma Joe’s Cafe (Derry, aromajoes.com)
• Casa Java Cafe (Derry, casajavacafe.com)
• Clam Haven (Derry, clamhaven.com)
• Daydreaming Brewing Co. (Derry, daydreaming.beer)
• Doire Distilling (Derry, doiredistilling.com)
• Fody’s Tavern (Derry, fodystavern.com)
• From the Barrel (Derry, drinkftb.com)
• Gabi’s Smoke Shack (Londonderry, gabissmokeshack.com)
• The Grind Rail Trail Cafe (Derry, thegrindnh.com)
• Halligan Tavern (Derry, thehalligantavern.com)
• Kiss the Cook Macaroni & Cheese (Derry, kissthecookllc.com)
• Long Blue Cat Brewing Co. (Londonderry, longbluecat.com)
• Moonlight Meadery (Londonderry, moonlightmeadery.com)
• The Nutrition Corner (Derry, thenutritioncorner.business.site)
• Pasta Loft Restaurant (East Hampstead, pastalofthampstead.com)
• Pipe Dream Brewing (Londonderry, pipedreambrewingnh.com)
• Prime Source Foods (Londonderry, primesourcefoods.biz)
• The Red Arrow Diner (Londonderry, redarrowdiner.com)
• The Residence at Salem Woods (lcbseniorliving.com)
• Rig A’ Tony’s Italian Takeout (Derry, find them on Facebook)
• Rockingham Brewing Co. (Derry, rockinghambrewing.com)
• Talia’s Eatery (Londonderry, taliaseatery.com)
• Troy’s Fresh Kitchen & Juice Bar (Londonderry, troysfreshkitchen.com)
• Zorvino Vineyards (Sandown, zorvino.com)