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.

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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
Lunch

Tastes for the Table

Antipasti
Chef's selection of cured meats & seasonal vegetables 12

Cauliflower Fritti
with anchovy aioli 9

Parmigiano-Reggiano
with candied walnuts, honey, quince paste & sunflower crackers 11

Sweet & Sour Calamari Fritti
with pickled peppers, fennel & lemon mayonnaise 9

Pizzetta all'Andrea
with tomatoes, caramelized onions, anchovies, olives & Parmigiano 8

Pizzetta al Prosciutto
with spinach, roasted tomatoes& fontina 10

Pizzetta al Melanzane
grilled eggplant, San Marzano 8

Marinated Olives 4

Appetizers

Farinata
chickpea flatbread with mushrooms, caramelized onions & sage 8

Arugula & Pomegranate Salad
with endive, gorgonzola& pomegranate vinaigrette 9

Mixed Greens
with herbs & citrus vinaigrette 7

Steamed Mussels
with fennel, tomatoes, saffron & mascarpone 10

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

Grilled Prawns
with celery root, fennel, blood orange & parsley salad in a blood orange vinaigrette 12

Italian Wedding Soup
with veal meatballs, escarole, ditalini pasta & parsley 9

Demi Pastas

Trofie
with green beans, potatoes & pesto 11

Wild Mushroom Panzotti
with parsley pesto & olive oil poached tomatoes 12

Corzetti
with braised oxtail ragu & horseradish gremolata 13

Sweet Potato Trofie
with maple braised duck legs, pears & sage 12

Entree Pastas

Spaghetti Poveri
with fresh tomato sauce, capers, basil, anchovies, sage, garlic & pecorino 18

Potato Gnocchi
with lobster, savoy cabbage & truffle vinaigrette 23

Orecchiette Carbonara
with smoked pork shoulder, broccoli rabe & pecorino 19

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

Tre Gusti
a tasting of three handmade pastas - trofie, wild mushroom panzotti, corzetti 22

Entrees

Salmon al Cartocchio
baked in parchment, with radishes, fennel, celery, carrots & cauliflower, served with arugula butter & Meyer lemon 24

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

Grilled Hanger Steak
with mashed potatoes, grilled endive& salsa verde 24

Buridda
Ligurian fisherman's stew with fresh herbs, fregola, clams, shrimp, squid& white fish, served with pesto crostini 24

Braised Short Ribs
with gorgonzola polenta, balsamic glazed radicchio & pickled celery 25

Roasted Chicken
with roasted artichokes, fingerlings & scallions, with spicy red pepper puree 19

Sides

Gorgonzola Polenta 5

Roasted Artichokes
with fingerling potatoes & parsley 5

Carrots, Fennel, Radishes & Cauliflower
with olive oil, herbs & lemon 5

Patatine Fritte
fries with pesto mayonnaise 5

Desserts

Coconut Panna Cotta
with tropical fruits & macadamia nut brittle 7

Torta Santa Monica
rich chocolate cake, layered with ganache, caramel & fleur de sel, served with vanilla gelato & almonds 8

Pacciugo di Portofino
strawberry & vanilla gelati, lemon sorbetto, strawberries, cherries & whipped cream, with almond bark crumble (Piccolo / Normale) 7/9

Smashed Almond Bark
with dark chocolate dipping sauce 9

Gelati
of course, with biscotti 7

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

Aïoli: 1. noun A blend of ail (garlic) and oli (oil) in the parlance of the Provence region of southern France. Around here, we'd call it a garlic mayonnaise.

Champ: 1. noun An Irish favorite of mashed potatoes, green onions and butter.

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

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.

Mascarpone: 1. noun Ultra-rich, soft cheese known best for its role in tiramisu.

Oxtail: 1. noun A very flavorful cut of meat usually from beef or veal tail. Can be very tough so, often requires long, slow braising.

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.

Ragu: 1. noun Tomato and meat sauce from Bologna.

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