western massachusetts – Robin’s World

💙 | $$ | The saddest thing that’s happened to the Northampton restaurant scene in the last two years has been closure of Sylvester’s, a restaurant that I recommended in my first Gazette column ever. The good news, though, is that the owners of Sylvester’s also run Roberto’s, just a bit further down King Street, so not all of the greatness is lost. It’s just re-focused. So if you were a Sylvester’s lover, like I was, then you can still support the family.

Roberto’s is a baby by Joe’s standards but a local stalwart by any other, founded in the 1960s. The place is simple and folksy inside, with a balanced bustle of activity that puts you in the mood. They’re good at accommodating big groups. Roberto’s is also a sleeper hit for outdoor dining: you can sit out on a gracious patio next to the big old house and watch some hipsters across the street sell outrageous vintage clothes. They might even sing or rap.

The antipasto is a necessary way to start. It’s a generous spread, a massively tricked-out Italian-dressed salad with marinated mushrooms, ham, cheese, nicely acidic banana peppers, and pepperoni fried to a delightfully chip-like crispness.

Antipasto with fried pepperoni, Roberto’s, Northampton, MA (Photo: Robin Goldstein)

A well-coated Caesar salad is straightforward, and just what it should be.

Caesar salad, Roberto’s, Northampton, MA (Photo: Robin Goldstein)

Cheesy garlic bread and thin-crust pizza are two more eternal favorites here. They’re both in the greasy, pile-it-on school of culinary art in American pizza and garlic bread, which was really flowering in the Northeastern U.S. around the time of Roberto’s birth in the 1960s.

Pizza, Roberto’s, Northampton, MA, with Ansel Rosenblum in background (photo: Robin Goldstein)

But the best thing on the menu is what my grandmother, Nonnie, would order every time: eggplant parmigiana, crispy outside and melty inside and absolutely addictive. Most mains, including the eggplant, come with a choice of pasta, of which cavatappi (squiggly, mac-and-cheese-like noodles) are the best by far.

Eggplant parmigiana with cavatappi pasta and red sauce, Roberto’s, Northampton, MA (photo: Robin Goldstein)

Baked lasagna, Roberto’s, Northampton, MA (photo: Robin Goldstein)

Ravioli are another strength of the kitchen: butternut squash ravioli comes lusciously sauced and generously layered with grated cheese, while buffalo chicken ravioli is stuffed with minced chicken and served with blue cheese. These are hardly 1960s dishes, but they too may live long lives.

Ravioli, Roberto’s, Northampton, MA (photo: Robin Goldstein)

💙💙 | $ | Chinese two-course lunch specials—e.g. pork with chili pepper, ma po tofu—come with soup and rice, and they’re priced like gifts, under ten dollars a person. But don’t stop there: a lot of the more authentic à-la-carte dishes at Oriental Taste are fire. Their cumin lamb, for example, is one of my favorite things to eat in the world. Also great are boiled beef, boiled fish, and juicy, golden-fried “Special Sichuan Spicy Chicken,” tossed with crispy red chilies. They’re open late, too.

Easily the best Chinese restaurant in Northampton, Oriental Taste is a simply decorated space with high ceilings. I like the tables by the front windows, from which you can watch the bustle of Main Street.

The menu’s real firepower is found in a section called “Chef’s Special Dishes.” A great party dish that feeds two or three people is “spicy grilled whole fish,” which comes to the table bubbling in a giant metal tray with a burner under it, swimming in a red-colored broth with generous portions of cabbage, lotus, and other Chinese vegetables.

Beef in hot and sour pickle broth and cumin lamb, Oriental Taste, Northampton, MA (photo: Robin Goldstein)

The kitchen makes great use of ma la, and you can’t go wrong with any menu item that includes the word “Sichuan.” Beef in hot and sour pickle broth and dry-braised dishes hit the spot, as does red-cooked pork, a Taiwanese specialty of rich, fatty belly meat slow-braised and deeply infused with flavors of soy sauce and five spice.

Ma la fish, Oriental Taste, Northampton, MA (photo: Robin Goldstein)

Oriental Taste is also one of the city’s best-value lunch options. Every “Chinese Lunch Special” rings in at under ten dollars, including soup and rice. Pork or beef with wild chili. There are plenty of great vegetarian options on this list, including ma po tofu with Sichuan peppercorns and shredded potato with chili—China’s answer to hash browns.

There’s also decent sushi and pan-Asian here, if that’s what you’re craving, but you’d be missing out on the really good, authentic stuff.

Chef’s special dishes, Oriental Taste, Northampton, MA, USA

Special cool dishes, Oriental Taste, Northampton, MA, USA. Try cucumber salad, cold Sichuan-style chicken appetizer, and fu-chi fei pien.

The wine list is not broad, but it’s one of the best values in town. There’s not a single bottle over $30, and everything is marked up to no more than about twice what you’d pay in a wine store—a departure from the 3–4x that you’ll see at so many restaurants.