The Best Fra Diavolo

This is fast turning into a food blog! But then again, "Kosin loves to eat"... so there!

So last night, Z and I went to Giacomo's in the South End. Since it's nearly impossible to get into the North End location, I always wanted to try this second outpost. And it did not disappoint. What was disappointing was that they are a cash-only establishment. Oy, trying to decide between getting an appetizer or dessert was challenging. But I was willing to stay and wash dishes, or rather ditch Z and he can do it. ;)

The signature dish at Giacomo's is the linguine Fra Diavolo with seafood- either half a lobster with mussels and clams or just calamari with shellfish and shrimp. Either way, you can't go wrong...except eating a lobster is pretty messy and if you're like me, unless you're tackling twin lobsters, no way are you donning a bib. Always, always pick the Giacomo sauce to go with it! It has a hint of bechamel sauce in it to give the plain old marinara some texture and also some spices to give it a kick. We also got lobster ravioli. Now, we're talking lobster ravioli with big chunks of lobster in them. Sorrowfully, it sat in a very very creamy garlic sauce --- oh, about half a pint of heavy cream I would say. Not good for the waistline...definitely for sharing.

Now let's backtrack to appetizers. The fried calamari is pretty darn good. It's easy to make bad calamari but theirs is soft with a buttery crust...and the fried sweet peppers made it that much better! They also have a great spinach salad with goat cheese and walnuts and of course, carmelized onions. Reminiscent of the spinach salad at Maggiano's, which I actually prefer.

Ok, so we didn't know if we had enough money for dessert and coffee but decided to splurge. I got a chocolate mousse cake...it was decent but I would probably try something else next time. Now the coffee was really rich and dark...even the decaf! You know why? Because it's Lavazza coffee. I need to get me some of that for the long work days. Anyhoo, so there. Giacomo's continues to impress...but good luck finding parking nearby! =)