Wherefore art thou, delicious arancini?

Last night, Paul and I found ourselves in the rare position of heading to an event in an area of Boston that we almost never get to. We went to see Dane Cook at the TD Banknorth Center (the Gahden, for the traditionalists) - man, that guy is filthy, but hilarious. I could barely breathe I was laughing so hard. At any rate, not being much of a follower of the Celtics or the Bruins, I never spend any time in that North Station neighborhood and I know almost nothing of the restaurants down there. A quick Google search proved that I wasn't missing much - as you might expect, the area is abundant in sports bars, but little else. While I generally love pub grub, it just wasn't what I was craving last night. A little off of the main drag of Causeway, Friend, and Canal Streets, Google served up a little Italian trattoria called Nebo - just a few blocks from the North End, it seemed like a promising bet.

Though it's a short walk from the Garden, Nebo requires a fair bit of committment to get there - it was a little difficult to find and the weather was less than forgiving (winter, it seems, is officially here - sigh). More than once I was tempted to give in and settle for a burger at Beerworks. As soon as we get to Nebo, I am glad that we persevered. The restaurant is smallish, with great chic decor - dark wood, small spotlights, and an accent wall in brick. Unfortunately, there are already many diners there when we arrive, leaving only seats by the window open. It's both colder and less cozy by the window, but still nice. Plus our section has a helpful, attentive waitress which improves my opinion of our table.

Nebo has a lot of delicious looking options on the menu, but it's a little difficult to decode. Half of the menu is made up of "smaller" plates including antipasti, salads, and bruchette, the other half is more standard pastas and pizzas. What I found confusing about the menu is that the waitress recommended that we do more of a "tasting" and order two or three of the small plates for each of us. While I generally don't balk over the price of food, I was dissuaded from doing this since the small plates were ten to twenty dollars each! As faithful blog readers will recall, I love small plate eating, but I am used to paying for tapas that average about seven dollars each, so I opted for more traditional dining at Nebo. Both Paul and I ordered one selection from the antipasti and a pasta entree.

With my meal, I also had a lovely glass of Italian red (a varietal I've never had before and, now, don't remember the name). I thought it was a great touch that the wine menu came with tasting notes (I went for "a mellow blend of balsamic and cherry flavoring"), but, again, I was surprised by the prices - glasses ranged from eleven to fourteen dollars each. For a place that bills itself as a "pizzeria," this seemed on the high side.

Based on the waitress' suggestion we ordered the meatballs and arancini for appetizers. In particular, she insisted that the arancini were the "signature" dish of the restaurant. Now, I will admit to having some suspicion around this. I love arancini, but I am consistently surprised by how poorly they are executed at restaurants. During a recent Restaurant Week, I went to Ivy Restaurant specifically to try their much-touted arancini and walked away completely disappointed. My interest was certainly piqued by the rice balls at Nebo, as they are stuffed with porcini mushrooms and finished with a chestnut honey sauce. Unfortunately, even these unique flavors couldn't save this dish. In my mind, perfect arancini are dense balls of risotto lightly coated in breadcrumbs, which - when you bite into them - ooze a bit with the creaminess of the rice and a healthy dose of melty mozzarella. The arancini at Nebo had a thick, fried crust with dry rice that fell apart as you ate it, and barely any filling. I will admit that the earthy mushrooms and chestnut flavor was offset by the honey, creating an unusual and tasty flavor combination. Nevertheless, the quest for delicious restaurant arancini continues.

The meatballs did not fare much better. While flavorful, they were dry with too crunchy of a coating. The red sauce in which they were served was an embarrassment to the restaurant's proximity to the North End. It tasted as though the chef simply sent a few tomatoes through the food processor and poured the contents into the serving dish. It was flavorless and thin. I was sorry that we'd ordered the grilled bread (not complimentary at Nebo) to be able to sop up the sauce, though the bread itself was well done - smoky and crisp.

At this point, I had pretty much written off Nebo. I should not have been so hasty. Our main courses arrived, well portioned (not too much and not too little) and beautiful-looking. Before my first bite, I knew that the pasta would be exceptional - it looked thick and dense and misshapen, as all homemade pasta should be. It was outstanding. Paul had ordered tagliatelle with a mixed mushroom-marscapone cream sauce. Again, the dish hit just the right sweet-earthy balance with the cheesy sauce and mushrooms. Together with the pasta, it was warm and filling and delicious. I had ordered the ricotta gnocchi with sausage and broccoli rabe. The gnocchi were chewy, but not overly doughy, and topped with the nice spicy-bitter flavors of the sausage and rabe. The whole dish was mellowed by a very light chicken stock sauce.

Riding on the high of the exceptional entrees, plus with more than an hour still left until show time, we decided to stay for dessert. Wrong choice. Even considering the lackluster antipasti, dessert was the biggest disappointment of the night. We ordered the warm molten chocolate cake, served with cappuccino gelato. The cake lacked any punch of cocoa flavor and was beyond dry, especially considering that there was no discernible "molten" center. The gelato was the strongest point of the dish, with great coffee flavor and smooth texture. It also came in a heaping portion - a whole bowlful served with the cake.

I'd give Nebo, at 90 North Washington Street in Boston, a B-. Nebo seems to have forgotton the importance of first and last impressions - while the homemade pasta makes this spot a standout around North Station, the starters and desserts make it impossible to enjoy your meal all the way through. Next time you are heading to the Garden, stick with beer & nachos. Next time you are craving Italian, walk the extra few blocks to the North End.