For my fifth Taste of Hartford visit, my companion and I arrived on the later end at Peppercorn’s Grill.
As people commonly said in my parents’ day, the joint was jumping.
Enhanced by tasteful artwork, the restaurant struck us as extremely attractive,
including the capacious room that was added a year ago and still had that nice “new wood” scent.
Everyone seemed to be having a great time.
This last photo shows our view of the restaurant from the table at which we were seated.
Throughout our meal, we were well taken care of by Janice and Sarah. We began with soft bread and a nice fruity olive oil. As with the olive oil, we noticed throughout our meal that the ingredients used were of such a quality that they spoke eloquently for themselves.
From the appetizer choices, we enjoyed bruschetta with garlic, fresh plum tomato, Mozzarella and extra virgin olive oil,
crispy, beer-battered zucchini blossoms stuffed with a peppered Mozzarella,
and a polpette di vitello special featuring tender veal meatballs with ricotta, fresh herbs and Reggiano Parmigiano slow-cooked in a fresh tomato sauce.
For our entrées, we were more than happy with perfectly cooked pan-seared golden snapper in a lemon-caper-butter sauce with herb-roasted potatoes and sautéed vegetables.
But we were blown away by the orange ravioli, housemade ravioli filled with ricotta, spinach and orange rind in a sauce of fresh orange, sage, butter and Reggiano Parmigiano. The sweet and savory elements, the rich and acidic elements—were in perfect balance.
Dessert put the exclamation point on a most gratifying meal. My companion had vanilla gelato with fresh strawberry and whipped cream,
while I sighed over the best tiramisù I had tasted in quite some time.
As we lingered over our desserts, we couldn’t help observing that the staff of Peppercorn’s Grill was putting on the kind of Restaurant Week performance guaranteed to help them fill the big new room they added.
Peppercorn’s Grill, 357 Main Street, Hartford, 860-547-1714