Rocca

500 Harrison Avenue
Boston, MA 02118
617-451-5151

With the opening of Rocca Kitchen & Bar, renowned Boston restaurateurs Michela Larson, Gary Sullivan and Karen Haskell bring a taste of Liguria to Boston's South End. With chef Tom Fosnot at the helm, the popular neighborhood restaurant boasts a menu filled with extensively researched and entirely authentic Italian fare.

Its Harrison Avenue location allows for a little elbow room and Rocca makes the most of it with an outdoor patio, airy lounge, intimate private dining room and expansive upstairs dining room. There’s also complimentary parking – a rarity in the heart of the city.

Sunday Suppers at Rocca
Even if the current economic climate has you looking for ways to scale back - there's no reason to suffer ...

New Year's Eve 2008 at Boston's Best Restaurants
See how your favorite restaurants are ringing in the New Year.

Sunday Suppers at Rocca
The current economic climate may leave a little to be desired but there's no reason you should suffer gastronomically ...

Tom Fosnot

Chef at Rocca

Tom Fosnot's successful culinary career began simply enough - making milkshakes alongside his mother. He took his first restaurant job at the young age of fifteen and began to understand the excitement and unpredictability of kitchen life. As a college student working at the ‘Sconset Café on Nantucket, he learned to appreciate the importance of working with local farmers, fishermen and bakers to create authentic cuisine.

Briefly diverging from the kitchen, Fosnot pursued his interest in geology, earning a degree in the field from Washington & Lee University and working in a forest reserve for The National Parks Service. However, in his spare time, in his rustic cabin, sans television, Fosnot poured through cookbooks and shopped at the nearby markets. Experiments with Dungeness crab and Pacific salmon quickly led him to decide on a career as a chef.

Fosnot dove into his formal education at the Culinary Institute of America in 1997 and interned for Chef Ken Oringer, at Clio. After graduating in 1999, he accepted a position on the line at The Sapphire Restaurant Group's Rialto under Executive Chef Jody Adams. By 2001, he was named Sous Chef of the acclaimed restaurant and by the summer of 2003, he became Executive Sous Chef where he managed all aspects of food preparation, staffing and ordering. When The Sapphire Restaurant Group offered Fosnot the position of Executive Chef at blu at The Sports Club/LA, Fosnot seized the opportunity. He emphasized use of local ingredients and classic European techniques to create seasonal menus for the dining room, bar and casual café.

Spring 2007 presented another opportunity for Fosnot to collaborate with The Sapphire Restaurant Group in their latest restaurant, Rocca Kitchen & Bar in Boston's booming South End. Fosnot is thrilled to create a menu based around Ligurian cuisine as it reflects his natural cooking tendencies - to create simple, clean flavors. A Chef of high intellect, who enjoys carefully researching "the how and the why behind a dish," Fosnot even embarked on a trip to the coastal region of Italy before Rocca's opening so as to fully understand and honor Ligurian dishes like homemade pesto, hand-rolled trofie and buridda.

Fosnot is married to Ruth-Anne Adams, also a well-known and respected Boston chef. The couple has two sons, Finn and Will.

Dinner
Bar

Appetizers

Antipasti 13
prosciutto, salami, pecorino, white bean dip & pickled vegetables

Warm Ricotta 12
with cracked black pepper, sea salt & thyme

Fried Cauliflower 8
with garlic mayonnaise

Honey Glazed Duck Wings 10
with sage & peperoncini

Prosciutto & Fontina Pizzetta 8

Roasted Butternut Squash & Pear Pizzetta 9
with ricotta, gorgonzola & sage

Pizzetta of the Day mkt

Meatball Sliders 8
with provolone, tomatoes & arugula

Skillet-Roasted Mussels 10
with tomatoes, fennel, garlic & basil butter

Grilled Octopus 12
with Sicilian olives, potatoes & red pepper vinaigrette

Farinata 8
chickpea flatbread with mushrooms, caramelized onions & sage

Fried Calamari 9
with peperoncini & fennel mayonnaise

Insalata Tre Colore 8
escarole, radicchio & romaine greens with red wine vinaigrette & shaved Parmigiano

Tuscan Tomato Soup 7
with farro, chickpeas & white beans, served with Parmigiano crostini & basil oil

Handmade Panzotti 14
filled with fresh greens, Parmigiano & ricotta, on walnut sauce

Handmade Corzetti 14
with braised rabbit red wine sauce

Handmade Trofie 12
with green beans, potatoes & pesto

Entrees

Roasted Whole Fish 26
with fresh herbs, olives, potatoes, tomatoes & pine nuts

Grilled Sirloin 29
with arugula, Parmigiano, rosemary Yukon Gold potatoes & red wine marrow butter

Buridda 25
Ligurian fish stew with fresh herbs, clams, shrimp, squid & white fish, served with pesto crostini

Braised Short Ribs 24
with creamy polenta, green beans, glazed carrots & pickled horseradish gremolata

Pan-Roasted Duck Breast 25
with fig jam, Tuscan kale & sweet potato risotto cake

Grilled Swordfish 24
with roasted cauliflower & fennel, tomato-saffron vinaigrette & parsley pesto

Chicken Genoese 19
roasted, with sweet & sour spinach, wild mushrooms & pine nuts

Entree Pastas

Potato Gnocchi
with meat sauce 18
with wild mushrooms, chives & fontina fonduta 19

Bucatini Carbonara 18
with guanciale, Parmigiano & arugula

Linguine alle Vongole 21
with tomatoes, pecorino & broccoli rabe pesto

Rigatoni Baked in a Pot 18
with veal, tomatoes & Parmigiano

Lasagne Ligure 23
with butternut squash, wild mushrooms, mozzarella, crescenza cheese & arugula pesto

Sides

Sweet & Sour Spinach 5
with pine nuts & golden raisins

Carrots & Green Beans 5
with parsley & olive oil

Creamy Polenta 5
with pecorino & extra virgin olive oil

Patatine Fritte 5
fries with pesto mayonnaise

Desserts

Hazelnut & Espresso Panna Cotta 8
with cinnamon shortbread

Apple Frittelle 8
with apple cider granita & crème anglaise

Cioccolata Bis 7
chocolate ganache in a dark chocolate crust

Pacciugo di Portofino 9
strawberry & vanilla gelati, lemon sorbetto, with strawberry sauce, whipped cream & amaretti

Smashed Almond Bark 9
with dark chocolate dipping sauce

Gelati 7
of course, with biscotti

PLEASE NOTE: The items, ingredients and prices on all menus are subject to change. It is recommended that if you are interested in a particular dish you contact the restaurant directly to determine its availability.

Dictionary

Crostini: 1. noun The Italian word for "little toasts" (referring to bread, not grappa).

Farro: 1. noun Tuscany's mainstay, a small, light brown grain.

Ganache: 1. noun A rich mixture of chocolate and crème fraîche frequently used as a filling for cakes.

Gremolata: 1. noun Minced parsley, lemon peel and garlic.

Insalata: 1. noun Italian for salad.

Panna cotta: 1. noun Italian egg custard.

Pesto: 1. noun An Italian sauce traditionally made with basil, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and Romano and Parmesan cheeses.

Polenta: 1. noun A slow-cooked cornmeal porridge popular in northern Italy; can be served soupy or firm, sometimes fried.

Porcini: 1. noun Smoky, meaty wild mushrooms.

Risotto: 1. noun Italian dish made from rice cooked by intermittently adding small amounts of stock or broth. Other ingredients are added as required.

[ Home ] [ Dining Guide ] [ News & Events ] [ Industry Insider ] [ Recipes ] [ About Us ]