Alma Nove
22 Shipyard Drive
Hingham, Ma 02043
www.almanovehingham.com
Food: Blend of Italian and Mediterranean cuisine
Atmosphere: Upscale, but not stuffy, by the water, open, near a boat launch, outside seating with fire pit
Kid Friendly: Leave the kids at home and go here for a date at night or business meeting during the day
Pricing: Average for a nice dinner out.
I was listening to Mix 98.5 a few weeks ago when I heard the movie "The Other Guys" was having its premier in Hingham. Hingham? Who has a premier in Hingham? It all made sense when Alma Nove was mentioned.
Alma Nove is a restaurant owned by Chef Paul Wahlberg. Have you made the connection yet? If you are in your mid to late 30's I am guessing you have, but let me make it easy. Paul Wahlberg is the brother of Donny and Mark Wahlberg. Mark is in the movie, "The Other Guys", what better way to promote your brother's new restaurant than to have the premier at the movie theater located on it's doorstep?
Alma Nove is named for the Wahlberg matriarch
Alma, and Nove, for her nine children.
This past weekend, while on an adventure, which included our good friend Banks, we made our way over to the Hingham Shipyard, where Alma Nove is located and gave it a try.
We arrived at about 3:30pm and the kitchen was in between lunch and dinner, so the hostess told us we could only sit at the bar and have a limited menu. My initial reaction was disappointment, but then we asked to see the menu, and limited is probably not the right choice of words. There was still a great selection of food to choose from, so we opted to sit down at one of the high tops surrounding the bar.
Being relegated to the bar, could have been a second chance to
disappoint me, but Alma Nove has an open floor plan, with lots of windows. I love natural light and being on the water. The only thing that would have been better is if I were able to sit outside on the patio. I also am not a big fan of the bar high top. Usually I find sitting up that high uncomfortable, but Alma Nove has extremely comfortable leather chairs, and the wall separating the bar from the dining area has a glass sound buffer. This makes the restaurant feel as though it is one big room, and made me feel in no way was I in less desirable seating.
Within a half hour of our arrival, I noticed every high top in the bar was taken as well as all seating around the bar. That is pretty amazing for the in between lunch and dinner time at a restaurant.
For our in between meal,which was really more of an early dinner;), I opted for the Spaghettini, Banks got the Orecchietti, and Lou the Grilled Sirloin Burger.
The Spaghettini came with mizuno pesto, pistachios and wood grilled chicken. The portion was perfect. The blend of the pesto, and pistachios was simple yet so flavorful, and the chicken was moist and tender. I loved it.
Banks let me taste her Orecchietti, and I felt the same way. It was a blend of rapini, panchetta and Romano cheese. This was also a simple dish, but packed with flavor, and the perfect portion.
I think the most telling dish as to whether Alma Nove is a really good restaurant was Lou's burger. The first thing I noticed is it was all about the burger. The bun size to burger size was absolutely perfect. Paul Wahlberg must have grown up on the "Where's the beef?" commercials and vowed to do better. The bun also looked freshly made. I have said it before and will continue to say it, "Good bread, good sandwich, good burger." Lou loved it.
We were so satisfied with lunch, we decided we had to continue on with dessert. Looking at the Alma Nove website, the dessert is different than what they had listed the day we were there, which means they do seasonal desserts. This also means ingredients are fresh, and dessert invokes the atmosphere of the season. I personally love this. It is only a shame I can't credit the pastry chef because I don't see the name on the website. We chose two very seasonal desserts, the pumpkin cheesecake with ginger snap crust, and the
ginger cake with caramel sauce and fresh brandy whipped cream. Hopefully I described those right. I do know I got the brandy whipped cream right. Here's a little secret. Want to spruce up that pie at Thanksgiving? Make fresh whipped cream and add a tablespoon of brandy to it. You will be asking people if the want pie with their whipped cream. It is delicious, and the desserts at Alma Nove were outstanding.
I have to admit, Alma Nove exceeded all my expectations. The service was great, the food was outstanding. The atmosphere was perfect, and I have to say it was aptly name. With all the talent floating around in the Wahlberg family, it's good to see Alma Wahlberg recognized. She sure did something right.
This last time at Victoria's we tried the Eggplant fries. Basically fried eggplant that looks like fries. I am sure this would contribute nicely to Guy Fieri's hardening of the arteries, but they are very tasty, and need no dipping sauce. Although I think marinara or ketchup would be a nice addition as well, we ate them plain. I get it Guy, I am working towards my own heart attack if I keep eating these, but this batch was work the extra cholesterol. 
Moving away from the breakfast for dinner theme, Lou got this gigantic Cranberry and Walnut salad with Mandarin oranges above.
I got my equally large standard chef salad which comes with real freshly sliced turkey breast.
There are three main choices on the menu for low maintenance ordering, or you can mix and match bread cheese and fillings to customize your grilled cheese, from the choices below.
Lou's family came to dinner this year. There were 9 of us all together. Lou's mom brought a honey baked ham and green beans. Aunt Shirley brought her famous pound cake and mac and cheese, and Lou's dad brought a pumpkin cheese cake and a bag full of bread for leftover sandwiches!
Lucky for me I have a neighbor who was away for the day and let me use their stove, and a husband who remembered to take all these pictures when I first put the food out. Otherwise I never would have gotten everything out hot, or had pics for the blog:)
Two recipes I have never seen anyone make the or at least make in the same way are my grandmom's stuffing and my grandmom's turnips. Here are the recipes.
Turnips
Enjoy my pics and I hope everyone who was celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend had a great time with family and friends. Now get out there and work those calories off! 
It turns out the Ice Creamery has an inside seating area, and a wood burning stove where they make some delicious pizza. They also have sandwiches, salads, and pasta dishes, various bakery treats and of course homemade ice cream.
For lunch we got the flat bread because it was the highest thing billed on the menu, and it looked really good on our neighbors table. We chose to split our pizza in half. One side was the Lightning Rod-hand-made herb & garlic sausage, organic tomato sauce, blend of organic cheeses, sautéed organic green peppers, sliced organic mushrooms & balsamic-splashed sautéed organic yellow onions.
Here are the pics, the waffle, gross.. The onion rings below were the only good part. Dishes seemed old and dirty. Water tasted like you took it out of a rusty spigot.
Take note of my other posts Friendly Toast. I rarely hate a place, and even if I had a bad experience try to find the positive.
I have a completely unpredictable job, and Natick is about 35 minutes away, so I had to make a game time decision that day as to whether I was going to brave the crowd to meet Ina and get a book signed, or stay home and wonder what could have been. At 11 am I decided to call, and the store told me there were still some books left, but the line was already really long. If I didn't get there soon, I might not even get a book!.JPG)
and here is Ina signing Carlotta's cookbook. I think Ina wants to be an APK girl now....
Ina is still on her book tour, check to see if she will be coming to a place near you!
Besides the bar, there are hightops scattered throughout which can sit 4 people comfortably. I have to admit, I have never seen a bar without low seats and booths. It isn't too large in here though and I imagine they wanted to be able to pack a bar crowd in, so if that is case, the seating makes sense.
After being seated our waitress, Erin greeted us immediately. There was only one other couple in the whole restaurant, but it was that in between time so, I thought that made sense. Lou and I aren't huge drinkers, so we just got water, but Telegraph Hill offers a great selection of draft and bottled beer.
My shepard's pie was really tasty, with a cheesy, potato crust on the top. They cook it in the same bowl they serve it in, and because of that, it took a while for our food to arrive. At least that is my theory. It was delicious, but I can see the shepard's pie throwing off the kitchen on a busy night.
Lou's burger was really good as well. He loved that they had a California burger with avocado on it. That mound of fries is not only plentiful, but they are fresh. I caught a glimpse of one of the cooks preparing the fries in the kitchen.
This is Lou after somehow finishing the majority of his giant meal. The reason I really took this picture was the flowers. I loved them. I thought they were original with a nice fall theme. They were fake, but didn't scream fake, but the most interesting part to me was the water. The water was fake too! I like when restaurants come up with an interesting way to keep atmosphere, but make it simple on themselves. Telegraph Hill could have these pre-made vases for every season.
This place isn't sheik, it doesn't have all new furniture, or a hip atmosphere. It just has great coffee, yummy pastries and cakes, and a few choices for soups, salads and sandwiches. It's also got, gelato, free wi-fi, lots of tables which can be pushed together for bigger parties, and a book trading book case in the back. 
The BBQ dishes all come out the same way. Beef,chicken, pork, shrimp or tofu are delivered to the table and placed on the BBQ by the server. The start the cooking process but leave the tools for you to finish it off. 
The BBQ is served with 9-10 side dishes which include various small salads like the most popular Kimchee
Korean BBQ is also served with slivers of garlic, peppers, soy paste, a bowl of rice and large sesame leaves to place the items in and eat with.
We were mainly there for Lou's popover, but Kat got a curry chicken salad and mixed green salad along with a Raspberry Izze. Mac got a few cookies.
I got a pot of Assam tea which is just fancy for English Breakfast. I love when a place gives you a pot. You get two cups for the price of one and can sit and enjoy a little longer.
Lou and I went for the Black and White cookies. I always think it is funny these are called cookies because they are really flat cupcakes with icing on top. Lyndell must think that too because they call them Half Moons. They also make them all chocolate, all vanilla, chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. The entire line the call Moon Madness. Who needs all the cupcakeries when you have the Lyndell Moon which is twice as big and three times as yummy?
