At least on quiet nights, Eclano is very willing to make half-orders without a surcharge. We had a half-order of spinach salad ($8/full; $4/half), a little wilted with lots of pancetta (cubed bacon) and hazelnuts, which was unusually good.
Pasta at such places is increasingly al dente, as proven by our order of rigatoni gigante ($15), the homemade version of those large tubes with strips of sautéed eggplant, a great tomato sauce touched up with basil, and ricotta salata cheese to take the edge off the sauce. New on the menu — and even chewier — is “scialatelli” ($18), a homemade triangle-shaped flat pasta in a salty stew of fresh cherry tomatoes, manila clams, and a bit of garlicky oil.
As for the entrées, there is much to be said for the simple rosemary-chicken breast ($23), with its crisp crust, plump meat, and carefully restrained rosemary kept below the excessive pine-y level. It’s served with green beans and twice-baked fingerling potatoes. A special on codfish with four large prawns ($32) had the buttery, melting quality of fresh local cod, and a subtle onion sauce.
The wine list is all Italian and hence mostly red, although California technology has done wonderful things for Italian white wines, even from southern regions. I am rethinking my trick of ordering less-expensive wines from the super-hot Mediterranean summer of 2003. I’ve had some outstanding barbera and dolcetto from this vintage, but sometimes, as with the Baroli barbera d’Alba ($35) on this list, the acidity of the grape that goes so well with tomato sauces gets roasted out, and the wine becomes as soft and fruity as California merlot, only more so.
Desserts are another strength, especially the fabulous chocolate budino ($9) — extremely good chocolate pudding. (Why isn’t that on every menu instead of bitter flourless chocolate cake?) Vanilla panna cotta ($8) was very nice, with strawberries and a strawberry sauce as mild as applesauce. The crostata ($8) was a cookie shell lined with almond pastry cream and filled with strawberries on our night, as there was little other fruit after a long weekend. It’s often served with seasonal or exotic fruit.
Eclano looks fancy mostly by restraint: canary-yellow walls, dark-wood chairs, floor tiles like wood planks, a four-stool bar, houseplants in the window. An earlier reviewer elsewhere complained of too much Sinatra, so now we hear more Mel Torme and Tony Bennett. Since we were the only diners at the end of Memorial Day weekend, I cannot describe the usual crowd. But they would be very smart to find Eclano in a crowded market niche.
Eclano, 54 Salem Street, Boston | Mon–Thurs, 5:30–10 pm, and Fri & Sat, 5:30–11 pm | AE, DI, MC, VI | beer and wine | no valet parking | sidewalk-level access | 617.720.6001
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Robert Nadeau: RobtNadeau@aol.com
