Tuscany Grille

A Shrewsbury Street favorite goes north

by Margaret LeRoux

Tuscany Grille 1 Princeton Road Holden 829-9090 Hours Tues.-Thurs. 5-9 p.m. Fri.-Sat. 5-10 p.m. Sun. noon-8 p.m. Major credit cards Full bar Handicap accessible

East Park Grille lives again! When the popular Shrewsbury Street restaurant closed more than a year ago, its fans went into mourning. Crowds of them used to wait in long lines for a chance to eat huge plates of imaginatively prepared Italian food at bargain prices. East Park was a big, noisy restaurant; it always seemed like there was a party going on. Well, the party atmosphere is back, but, instead of Shrewsbury Street, the action has moved to Holden. The Jefferson House, of late the sister restaurant of Arturo's in Worcester, was sold to none other than John Grasso, former chef/owner of East Park Grille, and his partner chef Will Gamble. And the duo has a hit with the new Tuscany Grille.

We stopped in, three of us unaware of the new owners' identities, on a recent Friday night, wondering how the crowds had already discovered the place. Then we noticed the menu's references to Shrewsbury Street and realized that East Park's fans had tracked Grasso down. We had a 20-minute wait for a table, as reservations are taken only for parties of six or more.

Our animated and personable waiter introduced himself, and then warned us, "Things are a little crazy tonight. The kitchen's having a hard time keeping up, so you might want to order your appetizers right away."

We took his advice and quickly scanned the appetizer choices, selecting two that were new to us: Tuscany skewer ($7.95), a generous sampling of lean, venison sausage accented with grilled peppers and onions, and polenta fritta ($6.95), a wedge of corn meal (think Italian grits) cooked with Romano cheese, seared, and served with fresh tomato sauce. We shared a salad described as warm baby spinach, almonds, and egg topped with bacon vinaigrette ($6.95).

Our waiter was right: the kitchen's timing was definitely off. We waited quite a while for the appetizers (enough to demolish two baskets of crusty, fresh bread). When our first-course dishes arrived, they came all in a bunch with the salad, which wasn't baby spinach after all, but still pretty good. The venison sausage was delicious, just enough spice and a slightly gamy flavor. In contrast, the polenta was rich and soothing.

While we waited, we sipped three good choices from the wine-by-the-glass selection: Cecchi Chianti ($4.75), Danzante Pinot Grigio ($4.75), and Round Hill merlot ($3.50).

Entrees include some favorites from East Park, along with a few new attractions, though prices are noticeably higher than at East Park.

One of my companions spotted an old favorite, chicken Luigi ($10.95), sautéed chicken-breast strips with basil, pine nuts, sliced almonds, raisins, and Romano cheese over penne. My other friend chose one of the non-Italian entrees, tournedos ($14.95), pan-seared beef tenderloin with kalamata olives and roasted tomatoes. I selected scallops a'capperi ($12.95), served with baby spinach, olives, and tomatoes in a lemon Mediterranean sauce.

Our entrees were very good, despite omissions and changes of ingredients in all of them. My scallops and the tournedos were supposed to have been served with fettuccine; I got angel hair pasta instead, which was fine. The tournedos -- tender and flavorful -- came with wonderful garlic mashed potatoes. The scallops were missing the baby spinach -- zucchini match sticks were substituted -- and no raisins could be found in the chicken Luigi, too bad, since they promised to add an interesting hint of sweetness to this rich, garlicky dish.

Even though the kitchen staff has some catching up to do, it's obvious the wait staff at Tuscany Grille is well trained. In fact, what could have been a disaster -- two waiters collided and an entire tray ended up on the floor -- was a lesson in how to shine in a crisis. The waiter apologized to the guests whose food was lost; it was replaced, and the restaurant picked up the tab for the meals. I was impressed by the calm, sensible handling of the situation.

In contrast, I recently saw how servers can make a bad situation even worse. I'd joined two friends for lunch at a popular restaurant in Worcester (though I've decided not to name names). One entree, chicken and broccoli over penne, was dry, and the broccoli was burned. When the waitress cleared our plates, she noticed that my friend had barely touched her meal and asked if she'd like it packed to take home. My friend said that she didn't care for it.

"It's our most popular dish," the waitress replied.

I couldn't help myself: I added, "But the broccoli was burned."

"No it wasn't," the waitress retorted. The other waitress chimed in, "There's nothing wrong with that dish; it's fine." No apology, no acknowledgment that we weren't pleased. You can bet we won't lunch there again. We will, however, return to Tuscany Grille. Our bill for three was $82.90, before tip.