Two-star Michelin chef and Genoa-born Paolo Laboa recently partnered with the Serenitee Restaurant Group to open Pinoli in downtown Gloucester. This new Italian hotspot serves Northern Italian cuisine incorporating the freshest, local ingredients. The restaurant itself is designed as a welcoming space, where guests are encouraged to walk right into the kitchen and say “hello” to Paolo.
“Cooking is what I love and I want to make each ingredient sing,” explains chef Paolo. “If I make a dish with artichokes, I want you to taste the artichoke, not a heavy sauce. My goal is to have it be the best artichoke you have ever tasted.”
Paolo’s menu highlights local ingredients with fresh seafood straight from the docks in Gloucester to seasonal vegetables from local farms. Paolo believes each dish starts at the source. His opening menu will be accented by an abundance of nightly specials based on what is available that day.
Menu highlights include appetizers like Ensalata di Polpo, a warm octopus salad served with potatoes and wild harvest mushrooms; Sasicce di Tonno, a housemade tuna and bone marrow sausage with cannellini beans cooked in a terra cotta pot; as well as specialties such as Paolo’s native Genoa paper-thin dough layered with Stracchino cheese.
Fresh-made pastas include Paolo’s pesto, Carbonara di Mare, semolina pasta with shrimp, cured pork, sea urchin roe, and pecorino toscano; and the Tajarin Con Ragu di Cinghiale, 60-yolk noodles served with Piedmont-style wild boar. Entrées include Saltimbocca di Pesce Spada, swordfish saltimbocca olive stuffed artichokes and salsa verde, and Conigilo su Polenta Concia, red wine braised rabbit, served with sage brown butter and parmigiano-reggiano poltenta.
3 Duncan St., Gloucester; www.pinoli-gloucester.com