Northshore Magazine

Northshore January February 2016

Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.

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18 | JANUARY + FEBRUARY 2016 nshoremag.com Chef Antonio Bettencourt loves dough. He is constantly tinkering with his pasta recipe, which he's been making by hand for more than 15 years—tweaking subtle things to get a little closer to perfec- tion. So when it came to turning his acclaimed Restaurant 62 into a more casual Italian eatery, he couldn't wait to dig his hands into pizza dough. After many, many mornings spent fiddling with differ- ent flours and proportions of yeast and water, he finally found the flatbread recipe for his new Salem restaurant, A Mano Italian Kitchen & Pizzeria. Making the dough is a two-day affair that starts late at night after dinner service—giving it time to rise slowly overnight in the walk-in refrigerator. Bettencourt rolls it out the next day and uses it for baked-to- order pizza pies. The resulting crust is delightfully crisp on the outside and pleasantly chewy on the inside (and deserving of a starring role). Toppings—what the Italians call condimenti—are judiciously applied rather than piled on, allowing the crust's complex flavors to come through. Try the salame pizza, crowned with large, thin slices of Tuscan cured meat seasoned with fennel and garlic. (It was inspired by a late-night snack Bettencourt and his fellow cooks would enjoy after service at Tomasso Trattoria, the acclaimed Southborough res- taurant he helmed before opening Restaurant 62.) That same careful considera- tion goes into every dish at A Mano, which translates to "by hand" in Italian. Bettencourt is serious about making everything from scratch— from the complimentary baskets of ciabatta or focaccia to the pasta in his tagliatelle alla bolognese. The menu focuses on rustic Italian dishes, starting with the antipasti—a selection of both hot and cold appetizers, as is tradi- tional. For hot appetizers, fans of Restaurant 62 will recognize the arancini, satisfyingly crunchy and creamy deep-fried balls of saffron risotto. The meatballs, a mix of beef, pork, and ricotta, are surprisingly CONTACT A Mano Italian Kitchen & Pizzeria 62 Wharf St. Salem 978-744-0062 amanoitaliankitchen.com Appetizers Arancini $8 Eggplant in Agrodolce $9 Meatballs $10 Entreés Salame Pizza $14 Chicken Under a Brick $18 Tagliatelle alla Bolognese $19 Cocktail Sbagliato Negroni $10 Dessert Gelato $5 Warm Toffee Pudding $8 THE MENU Clockwise from left, tagliatelle alla bolognese, salame pizza, warm toffee pudding and chef Bettencourt

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