Celebrated chef, sophisticated vibe at new Salem eatery
Sixty2 on Wharf
62 Wharf St., Salem
978-744-0062, www.62onwharf.com
Hours: 5-11 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday
Accessible to the handicapped
All major credit cards accepted
In the space by the water that was once Bella Luna, there's now Sixty2 on Wharf, a new bistro by Antonio Bettencourt, who used to be the chef at the popular Tomasso Trattoria in Southborough.
Just down the street from Victoria Station, Salem's prime spot for family dinners, Sixty2 is a contender to become a Wharf staple. Like Victoria, it's a place for special occasions, but unlike Victoria, Sixty2 offers a sophisticated vibe and cuisine for foodies, which should appeal to newer Salem residents, the young professionals who are making good use of the commuter rail.
When we stopped at Sixty2 on a recent Tuesday night, the restaurant was populated by a young couple and a party of four middle-aged types, who laughed and talked over glasses of wine. Sixty2 is an ideal venue for intimate dinners thanks to soft lighting and lush décor. There's an impressive wine list and a number of sweet cocktails.
The menu is divided into three categories: tastes (which are all $5), starters, and mains.
We opted for two "tastes," roasted beets and chickpea fritters. The yellow beets were fresh, tender, and served with sea salt sprinkled on top. The fritters, something like hummus fries, were topped with a heaping pile of date compote. The sweet chutney-like paste had us wanting to lick the plate.
For entrees, two of us chose a "main" and one of us went for a smaller "starter." The starter in question, the potato gnocci ($15), turned out to be sufficient as a full dinner, especially for someone who always winds up with leftovers. The potato lumps, served in a small casserole dish, were topped with chunks of lobster meat dripping with basil sauce.
Of our two "mains," the scallops and the lamb, we preferred the lamb ($25), which was served on top of a granular mix of faro and almonds. What is faro, you ask? My dining companion didn't know either, so our waitress filled him in. It's something like cous-cous, she said, which was an apt description. The lemon-flavored nuts and hard wheat pellets had my dining partner more intrigued than the meat.
Less stellar were the scallops ($24), which were recommended to us by our server. We were torn between the seafood dish and the more traditional chicken served with butternut squash ($19). Our waitress recommended the scallops because the chicken was basic, she said, something we would be more likely to cook at home.
She was right: We wouldn't cook the scallops at home, at least not curried with apple. The dish wasn't unpleasant, but the plump scallops got a bit lost in the curry and the heaping pile of diced fruit on top.
To be fair, we opted to have the dish served without the recommended pancetta, which, perhaps, would have made the plate.
Dessert was a hit. Balancing the foodie talk on the menu (the aforementioned faro, the "rosemary mostarda" on the pork, and the cippoline onions on the salmon) was a plate of old-fashioned homemade doughnuts ($7), which were fresh and delicious with powdered sugar on top and apple-pie filling on the side. The toffee pudding ($8), already a popular item on the menu, was served in the shape of a mini Bundt and garnished with a heaping pile of fresh whipped cream. Our favorite was the hot chocolate ($7), which gets to be $7 because of the powdery homemade marshmallows that come with it.
Sixty2 is a bit pricey, but it's in the range of what you'd pay at Finz, another restaurant down the block. And after all, it's not just dinner you're paying for, it's a meal prepared by Bettencort, a truck-driver-turned-chef, who has cooked for the James Beard Foundation and got his start waiting tables in Peabody. That's something that both longtime residents and the commuter rail crowd should be able to appreciate.
MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN 