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Type: Eclectic
Hours: Daily 11 a.m. - midnight
Good choices: Beer and bread made on the premises, fried calamari, mixed seafood appetizer, cheese-filled phyllo appetizer, ground beef appetizer, Greek salad, veal marsala, pizza, mousaka, vegetable panini, chicken parmigana, and zabaglione.
Credit cards: All major cards.
Access: Ground floor entrance.
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BRUTOLE
65 Newbury St., Danvers
(978) 777-6633
Restaurant reviewed 02/18/99 by Bob MacDonald
Bread and beer trace their ancestry to ancient Egypt, so Brutole, which has a microbrewery and brick oven, has adopted an Egyptian theme along with its Mediterranean fare. The menu tilts toward Greece and Italy, and the beer is English-style ale, not at all incongruous since England's Bass Ale traces its pyramid logo to Egypt. (If beer is not your thing, there is also a wine list.)
The Egyptian motif is established by pictures on the walls and Egyptian-looking wallpaper patterns. Impressive woodworking, including a massive bar, provide warmth, while piped-in jazz vocals in the background make it a relaxing spot to linger. Brutole is owned by the proprietor of Fremont (N.H.) Pizzeria (Cheap Eats, June 9, 1994), and we're guessing it's practicing to become a "moderate eats" - the Athens to Fremont's Sparta. It's fun to order several things from Brutole's salad, appetizer, and dip categories and share.
We started, appropriately, with bread and beer. Different breads and/or rolls are baked on different days, coarse-textured and crusty, served with a delicate olive oil, sometimes plain, sometimes herb-infused.
Brutole Pale Ale, which the restaurant calls its flagship, was a light and hoppy brew that would go well with about any food. Empress ESB (Extra Special Bitter) was malty with hints of apple, suitably hoppy, and with the surprising treat of some malt remaining in the aftertaste. Brutole offers several other brews and promises an occasional cask-conditioned ale.
Recalling our favorite appetizer from Fremont, we went immediately for the fried calamari ($6) and were not disappointed. It was the same light batter and crunchy exterior, more tender than most calamari and served with a rich tomato sauce.
Phyllo dough puff pastries ($8) were like little baskets, filled with a comfortingly warm blend of ricotta, parmigiano, and romano cheese. Tsatsiki, the Greek version of creamy garlic and cucumber sauce, complemented them well. Tsatsiki and other sauces are also available as side dishes for dipping with pita bread.
A seafood combo was a tad high for a Cheap Eats appetizer at $10, but substantial enough to be an entree, as are several Brutole appetizers. (Oddly, Brutole doesn't offer a seafood entree that qualifies for Cheap Eats.) Shrimp, mussels, scallops, and calamari were marinated, grilled, and placed on a bed of cooked spinach. The grilling provided a pleasant smoky flavor that was set off perfectly by a splash of broth consisting of white wine with a hint of garlic. Accompanying Kalamata olives were briny and juicy, as good as we've had.
A Greek salad on soft fresh pita bread ($6) was enormous and tossed so that the house dressing coated everything well: romaine lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, pepperoncini, and more great olives. The imported feta was more delicately flavored and less salty than we usually find this cheese, and Brutole feels no need to crumble it.
An appetizer described simply as ground beef mixed with garlic, minced onions, herbs, and spices ($7) turned out to be a substantial serving of little meatballs, browned on the outside and moist and soft inside, the spices subtle. They came with a chunk of feta cheese, tsatsiki sauce, and olives.
Mousaka ($10) featured two large triangles of ground beef and eggplant topped by light-as-a-feather bechamel sauce. It was served with a warm medley of sauteed broccoli florets, red onion, summer squash, and mushrooms.
Chicken parmigiana ($10) featured a large chicken breast with a crunchy exterior and cheese that was blackened tantalizingly around the edges. It was served on a bed of angel-hair pasta with tomato sauce, a combination that no less authority than celebrity chef Emeril Legasse advocates, but one in which we find the sauce overwhelms the pasta.
Selections from the menu's Panini section go beyond the concept of mere sandwiches. (The burger is a half-pound of ground Angus!) A vegetable combo ($7) was an enormous pita round encasing a mix of caramelized onions, portobello mushrooms, roasted red peppers, plum tomatoes, and roasted eggplant sauteed to contrasting textures - some crunchy, some soft - and held together by the common thread of mozzarella cheese. Added to this was a side dish of cold ziti laced with red peppers, mushrooms, summer squash, and, yes, olives, dressed with oil and vinegar and dusted with parmigiano.
Brutole has invented a new take on veal marsala ($11). The usual ingredients are blended into a cream sauce that one of our tasters aptly described as "like velvet." The veal was tender without being pounded into submission, and the sauce was laced with slices of crimini mushrooms and shallots minced so finely that they added flavor while being hardly detectable.
A basic pizza ($9) - pepperoni, mozzarella, and fresh tomato sauce - featured appropriately chewy crust, while the other ingredients combined for sweetness and spice and a slighty slightly acidic bite. Brutole has some exotic combo pizzas, too, including one we regret not ordering: chicken breast, Grey Poupon mustard, mozzarella, fresh spinach, and caramelized onions, also for $9.
Service at Brutole is above average, and if Antonio is your waiter and he tells you that he prepared the zambaglione zabaglione ($5) that day, go for it.
Tips & hits
