Davide--Grazie and Prego

What differentiates Davide from every other North End restaurant? This is the question that was lingering in our minds. Was it the service? The food? It was not the location. Off the beaten path (i.e. two blocks off Hanover street) and right across the street from the harbor, you could walk by its subterranean entrance and not even know it's there. When we went, which was a non-weekend night, it was not crowded and we had the full attention of the waiter.

We liked the service. It was Italian, almost exaggerated Italian. Every one of our “Thank you's” was met with a prompt “Prego”. When ordering, we were specifically told that we had to order in Italian, as in the language. None of this bothered us, we found it quite entertaining. The décor could have been ripped right from a godfather movie with a whole collection of faux marble David busts in every corner and very fitting exposed brick walls. The very comfortable booths seem fitting locations for the the planning and scheming of the family. We see why they would come considering the great fresh baked bread and olive oil.

The prices are a bit high at Davide, so come with a full wallet. For our appetizer, we got the Involtini di Melanzane translated as rolled eggplant stuffed with goat cheese and ricotta in plum tomato sauce ($12). We really liked this dish. Think of a strip of fried eggplant delicately cut from the prized portion of an eggplant parmesan then wrapped around melting goat cheese, with a nice big slice of Parmesan cheese on top.

Eggplant

The main course only got better. The Anitra al Porto, pan seared breast of duck in a port wine fig sauce ($28) was sweet and scrumptious. The tender sliced morsels were smothered in a sweet sauce served with a fried triangle of polenta and several roasted asparagus.

Scrooge Mc'Yum

Our second entree was not as memorable as the first. The chicken breast with artichokes in a mustard sauce was just ok ($22). The artichokes were delicious but the chicken was a bit overcooked.

Chicken chicken me like chicken

A little pricey for our normal tastes, we highly recommend you keep your eyes open for any groupons.

Davide Restaurant
326 Commercial Street
Boston, MA‎
(617) 227-5745‎