Arthur's Food & Spirits

Shrewsbury Street makes room for one more

by Jim Johnson

Arthur's Food & Spirits
92 Shrewsbury Street, Worcester
757-3104
Sun.-Wed. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.
Thurs. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.
Major credit cards
Full bar
Handicap accessible

Who would have thought that Shrewsbury Street could support another restaurant? Apparently, the folks behind Arthur's Food & Spirits. And they were right. Although two friends and I were seated quickly for an early Friday evening dinner, by the time we left, the restaurant and adjacent bar area were packed.

The crowds (and the owners) can thank chef David Zanone for the restaurant's success. Zanone made a name for himself on Providence's Federal Hill and is doing the same in Worcester. He's put together a menu one tablemate -- already on his fourth visit -- dubbed "gourmet Italian food." At the same time, Zanone's included enough basic fare to satisfy the most timid palate.

Arthur's is at the grittier end of Shrewsbury Street, and its facade gives little hint of the restaurant's pleasant, warm, and welcoming interior. Thus the upscale, upbeat menu came as a slight surprise. I could hardly get past the pasta choices. How about rigatoni arrabiata ($8.95) -- prepared with hot cherry peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, calamata olives, and scallions and served in a fresh marinara sauce? Or agnollotti ala crema ($11.95) -- half-moon pasta stuffed with chicken, walnut, and spinach served with mushrooms and diced tomatoes in a fresh cream sauce?

If you prefer chicken, you can start with basic chicken parmigiana ($9.95) or work up to chicken valdostano ($11.50) -- sautéed chicken breast with prosciutto ham, mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese. For veal (and they use "only Provimi veal"), the choices range from parmigiana ($11.95) to merlino ($16.95, and the most expensive item on the menu), the latter a sautéed scaloppine served with shrimp, mushrooms, and artichokes in a sauce of red wine and marinara.

Zanone stays adventurous with seafood, too, stuffing his shrimp ($13.95) with snow crab and tasso ham and giving the Sole's delightful tuna sashimi a run for its money with herbcrusted tuna steak ($13.95) pan-seared medium-rare.

If you were cruising Shrewsbury Street for steak, you'd probably make Crescent City your first stop (and you wouldn't be disappointed). If you stopped at Arthur's instead, you'd be as surprised as we were at how well the restaurant delivers with sirloin and rib-eye grilled, as the menu promised, "to perfection."

Even the appetizers are exciting, and we promptly ordered stuffed portobella mushrooms, roasted clams zuppa, and smoked chicken spring roll ($6.95 each). The mushrooms were meaty, marinated in garlicky oil, stuffed with intense crabmeat dressing, and served with sliced plum tomatoes, olives, and lemon grass. The zuppa consisted of eight clams swimming in rich tomato sauce sweetened, we thought, with puréed roasted red peppers. Thanks to two slices of thick, buttery toast, the sauce disappeared as quickly as the clams. The spring roll injected an Asian influence with a crisp, fresh shell packed with smoky chicken, wilted lettuce, scallions, ginger, and other spices and served with lemon, pickled ginger, and wasabi mustard.

For entrees, one friend was happily tempted by the lobster gorgonzola ravioli ($12.95), filled -- you guessed it -- with lobster and gorgonzola and drenched in pink brandy sauce specked with mushrooms and tart and tangy sun-dried tomatoes. The spinach pasta were made from scratch and filled the plate.

My other friend had sampled sirloin umbriago ($15.95) on a previous visit and wanted a full order to himself. He did give me a small sample, which was crusted with herbs, perfectly grilled, and dressed with a rich mushroom barola wine sauce.

My pork tenderloin ($14.95) had been rubbed with grainy mustard and a hint of maple, grilled to perfect medium, and served in a half-sweet berry sauce. Winter potatoes -- sliced white and sweet potatoes layered with cheese -- came on the side.

Two desserts -- carrot cake and tiramisu -- were superb. The lemon torte was gummy and plain.

The service was friendly, well-paced, and well-intentioned, if not always well-informed. When we ordered the Canyon Road merlot -- with three glasses -- our server came with three glasses of Canyon Road merlot. In describing the specials, she billed the duck as breast meat served as an entree. Only when we questioned the $7.95 price tag did she check and inform us it was a duck liver pâté appetizer -- which she pronounced "for gray." If she'd been my surgeon, her confusion between breasts and livers would have concerned me. Instead, her slips and malapropisms endeared her to us even more. By dinner's end, we were laughing together like friends.

"That's what I love about this place," our frequent diner said. "It's so Worcester." The prices are surprisingly reasonable. We had our fill of appetizers, entrees, and desserts and spent about $30 apiece. If you choose judiciously, you can still walk in with a twenty and out with a full belly, a big smile, and change.