Davio's is a good addition to the team
An early taste of what's new on the restaurant scene
If the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets and the Natick Collection fell in love and had a baby that liked football, that baby would be Patriot Place, the new shopping, dining, and entertainment center at Gillette Stadium.
Even if you're not a football fan, you can't help but get giddy as you approach the brand-spanking-new complex from the highway. It's the excess of it all - the high-end shops in the open air, the unscuffed cement and perfect trees, and the movie theater that's trumped in size only by what's behind it, which of course is the mammoth stadium where Tom Brady gets his game on.
Dining establishments at the site include a sports bar, a burger joint, and a soon-to-be-open Skipjack's. As of now, the anchor is Davio's, an offshoot of the upscale Boston establishment owned by Steve DiFillippo. During a recent trip to the restaurant's southern sibling on a Saturday night, it was clear that Davio's at Patriot Place may be more popular south of Boston than it is in the city - even on an off-night at Gillette.
We tried to get a reservation, but the place was booked until 9:30 p.m. We went anyway, hoping to get a bar table, but when we arrived and saw the packs of middle-age couples, families, and young people on dates overflowing the bar into the restaurant's homey lounge, we realized that even a barstool would be tough to snag. At 7 p.m. Davio's was packed.
There were some open seats at the "chef's table," which is essentially a bar that looks into the kitchen, but the system of getting those seats - which involves finding them, asking for permission to use them, and then seating yourself (this was explained to us in a stern fashion by one of the hostesses after we tried to sit down without her approval) - seemed too stressful.
Luckily, by about 7:30 or 8 p.m., the crowd had thinned enough for us to find three seats at the giant wood bar. Our personable server mixed us up a few sips including the restaurant's Perfect Pineapple cocktail, which was so sweet that we could have chugged it without thinking if we weren't careful. We also recommend the Tuaca side car, a dessert-style version of the drink served with a cinnamon and brown sugar rim.
The best part of our meal was the bar bites. When the dish of macaroni and cheese arrived, it looked small, but a few spoonfuls of the truffle-oil-seasoned pasta were enough to please us. Also delicious were the blue cheese puffs,which were hearty, hushpuppy-sized breaded-and-fried dollops of blue cheese and potato.
The roasted beet salad, which featured a two-tone array of the veggie, was nothing special, but still tasty with a good amount of goat cheese and crunchy, toasted hazelnuts. Both the scallops and the skirt steak entrees were fantastic thanks to the sweet, creamy corn and seasoned chickpeas with which the dishes were respectively served.
If you're dining on a budget or want a quick meal to share before you go to the movies, the Kobe meatball pizza works. It seemed silly to waste Kobe beef on a pizza that would have been just as tasty with regular meatballs or pepperoni, but at $13, who cares? That's less expensive than most pizzas at Upper Crust. We were reminded that even though Davio's is often thought of as a restaurant for special nights out, it's moderately priced compared to similar restaurants around Boston.
About an hour and a half after we sat down - and now surrounded by a hipper bunch of 30- and 40-somethings - we leisurely ended our meal with an easy-to-share cookie plate and a banana-and-chocolate bread pudding that's the kind of decadent dessert that makes you close your eyes and smile as you taste.
We left Davio's satisfied, happy with what we'd spent on our meal, and so psyched to be in the Patriot Place complex that we hung around for a bit, taking time to tour the rows of shops and the fancy movie theater.
We'd recommend heading down there tonight, but who knows whether you'll be able to snag a table. It was hard enough when the stadium was empty. With David Beckham in town to play the New England Revolution at 7:30 p.m., we advise showing up late, mid-game - otherwise you may find yourself in a line out the door.
Davio's, Patriot Place, Foxborough, 508-339-4810. www.davios.com. Appetizers: $7 to $13. Entrees and a la carte menu: $14 to $52. Cocktails: $9 to $12.
Meredith Goldstein can be reached at mgoldstein@globe.com. 