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January 26, 2005.
TASTE & TELL: New owners are reason to visit Tullio's
When chef Jimmy Burke decided to end his 14-year ownership of Tullio's in Quincy in order to spend more time concentrating on Riva, his other restaurant in Scituate, chef Jack Campbell saw his opportunity to realize every chef's dream - a restaurant of his own. The Chicago native, who worked in restaurants to fund his degree in electrical engineering, discovered upon graduating that the business had gotten into his blood, so he promptly signed up to attend the Culinary Institute of America.
Upon completion, he returned to Chicago and a job with Let Us Entertain You, the midwestern restaurant conglomerate. Eventually he found his way to Boston, where he worked for Legal Seafood, before hooking up with Joey Crugnale to serve as corporate chef for Naked Fish, charged with developing the concept and the menu, as well as training all of the chefs who would work under him.
Last July, he and his wife Andrea, a veteran of the hospitality industry, took over the reins at Tullio's, where he runs the kitchen and she the front of the house. Menu-wise, little has changed, as Campbell admits that he's fond of the casual rustic Italian food the restaurant serves, and he feels that the public is, too. And judging by the number of Italian restaurants per capita, I'd have to go along with him.
Little has changed inside the restaurant, either. You'll find the same colorful murals, snapshots of Italian life, and the same funky hand-painted tables nestled together along the banquettes that line the walls. Blackboards list the specials of the day and the evening's desserts, and any seat in the house offers at least a peek into the open kitchen.
The lunch menu is an abbreviated version of dinner, offering a couple of appetizers, soups and salads, as well as a few panini, pastas and main courses. To my chagrin, they no longer serve pizzas at lunch, but Campbell assured me that he would consider reinstating them. He explained that they cook the pizzas in an authentic wood stove, and this requires a lot of work, not to mention wood, to keep going all day and into the night.
There are plenty of what would be considered southern Italian standards, such as veal, chicken or eggplant Parmesan on the entrée menu, as well as what Tullio's refers to as ‘‘stone pies,'' their wood-grilled pizzas. Additionally, northern Italy is well represented with seafood, steak and chicken dishes.
We started our dinner with a pizzetta of mozzarella, goat cheese and sundried tomatoes ($6.95), a simple and delicious mix of flavors, with the tang of the goat cheese and the lingering kiss of the wood smoke.
We both vacillated over a couple of interesting choices. The veal meatloaf ($15.95) with garlic mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus and mushroom gravy, sounded like just the thing for a wintry evening, and the veal scallopini with artichoke hearts, prosciutto and provolone in a white wine sauce ($16.95) almost had me.
In the end, though, I chose the spit-roasted chicken ($12.95), tender and full of flavor and served with roasted red bliss potatoes and wonderfully garlicky green beans. The wood-grilled 14-ounce rib eye steak appealed as well ($19.95), and it did not disappoint. Grilled a prefect medium rare, it was accompanied by gorgonzola mashed potatoes and pencil-thin grilled asparagus that was drizzled with truffle oil.
Desserts are fairly simple: tiramisu, spumoni and vanilla cheesecake being among the offerings. But there is also something called Mt. Vesuvius ($4.95) that's guaranteed to send any chocolate lover into orbit. A large slab of dense, dark chocolate cake, almost brownie-like in texture, is accompanied by vanilla ice cream and mounds of fluffy whipped cream, then drizzled with chocolate sauce. We also tried the crème brulee ($4.95), which wasn't the best version we've ever had.
Our server introduced himself as the assistant manager, and we watched as, throughout the evening, he made not just us, but everyone around us feel welcome and pampered. Located as it is at the far end of North Quincy, Tullio's can be easy to overlook, but that would be a mistake.
Hayes, Virginia. "TASTE & TELL: New owners are reason to visit Tullio's"
26 Jan. 2005. Online posting. The Patriot Ledger
ledger.southofboston.com
26 Jan. 2005. Online posting. The Patriot Ledger
ledger.southofboston.com
