Tuscan cuisine with an Irish surprise

The Garlic's rack of lamb.

Garlic Restaurant and Grille
93 Careswell St., Marshfield
781-834-4414
Open 4 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Major credit cards accepted
Handicapped accessible

Within the rustic red and golden hues of the Garlic Restaurant and Grille in the Green Harbor section of Marshfield is an array of fanciful takes by a talented chef on Tuscan specialties. But a traditional Irish dish served here ranks among the region's best.

The nine-month-old restaurant's garlic mashed potatoes is a heaping mound of lumpy goodness that is unparalleled. Laurie LaGumina, who opened the restaurant with her husband, Tom, in March, says chef Charles Williamson makes the easy recipe every day with heavy cream, butter, garlic, salt and pepper, but it is his special touch that sets it apart because it never comes out the same when other cooks try their hands.

At the Garlic, discussions with the owner about her good food are common.

"I love feeding people who love to eat," LaGumina said as she removed the nearly clean dishes from yet another course from our long, knotty-pine table.

The Garlic is filled with wooden posts and beams and tables made from Vermont barns by craftsmen there, all accentuated with hanging garlic vines and plastic grapes. Dim, comfortable lighting was spiced by white lights wrapped around the rafters. Tables are set simply with a salt shaker and a pepper mill. We thought the napkins should have been cloth instead of paper.

The menus offer ample selections featuring a good balance of the traditional red-sauce items and meat entrees.

My husband and I started by ordering two appetizers: the fried ravioli ($6) and the harlot's cheese ($5.49). The ravioli might have been on the bland side without the homemade raw romanesco mixture, made with red peppers, crushed almonds, and olive oil among several ingredients. The harlot's cheese, fried triangles of breaded mozzarella, were fresh, but came alive with the accompanying spicy puttanesca sauce, made with anchovies, olives, capers, tomatoes, and oil, that I wanted to scoop by the spoonful.

Next we tried the Mediterranean antipasto ($10) with fresh cured meats, cheese, and olives arranged around a heap of salad scattered with Parmesan cheese and Italian vegetables. It came with the restaurant's homemade dressing in a tall, angular glass server. The meats were as fresh as the tasty olives, but the cheese did not have a lot of flavor.

For the main course, my husband had the double-thick pork chop ($18) with those to-die-for garlic mashed potatoes. The meat was marinated in a citrus blend surrounded by espagnole sauce, a gourmet red-wine beefy reduction that kept my husband in a blissful state while he finished his plate.

I had ordered the rack of lamb ($23) that was served medium in lollipops dusted with a garlic herb butter fanned across the mashed potatoes. Delectable.

We wouldn't have felt right leaving without sampling a side of the Garlic's meatballs and sauce ($3) that were traditional and bathed in a sweet Italian sauce.

Dessert was chosen from a tray, not a menu. I chose the chocolate cake ($6) and he chose the tiramisu ($6), both served with drizzled chocolate and whipped cream. There was nothing left on either plate, but the cake wasn't as fresh as the tiramisu, which was extraordinarily light and accented with a mild, creamy mascarpone.

The Garlic has a full bar and offers glasses or bottles of red and white wine, ranging from $5.50 a glass to $75 for a bottle described as the best red in the house: Di Montalcino, 2003.

The mood was relaxing on a night that wasn't too busy and we appreciated the attention that our host gave us, but we sat next to three fishermen who didn't think it necessary to keep down the volume of their off-color conversation.

FRANCI RICHARDSON ELLEMENT