Boston Restaurant Examiner
The word ZaZa means “plenty for everyone,” and while the Za Za Restaurant & Nitery in Saugus seems to be best known as a nightclub that gets busy after 10pm, it's also a casual dining restaurant with huge portions of food, mostly Italian dishes. Formerly a chef at Stella in the South End, Chef Manrique Alvarenga cooks up Italian specialities.
Saugus seems to be best known as a nightclub that gets busy after 10pm, it's also a casual dining restaurant with huge portions of food, mostly Italian dishes. Formerly a chef at Stella in the South End, Chef Manrique Alvarenga cooks up Italian specialities. One night, he put a spin on the osso bucco recipe by using fork-tender lamb shanks braised with garlic, wine, basil and plum tomatoes served over risotto. Manager Chris Rozzi recommended a glass of Michael Pozzan Winery's Cabernet Sauvignon Annabella cabernet, a wine that kept up well with this flavorful dish.
By the way, don't resist the table's freshly made warm bread sticks; if you're really hungry, start off with a veggie antipasto, or their fabulous "tapas" platters -- coconut shrimp, pan-roasted gnocchi sauteed in sage butter and pancetta, crabcakes, Italian sausages over broccoii rabe, and lollipop artichokes. Also try the baseball-sized aranchini rice ball -- so hard to find outside of the North End, these are filled with peas, asiago cheese and bolognese sauce and crunchy panko crust.
I didn't have room for dessert, but I did make room for the Espresso Martini -- Stoli Vanil, fresh espresso, Kahlua, and Bailey's Irish Cream, topped with espresso beans. It's like a Mudslide, only this didn't make me as sleepy. They have a very fun drinks menu, with the Asian Pear martinis one of the most popular.
Early birds can choose from 10 dishes for $10 Mon-Wed 3pm-close, or Thursday-Saturday 3-6p.m.: surf and turf, pork tenderloin in mushroom marsala pomodoro sauce, butternut and amaretto ravioli in a brown sugar-sage butter cream sauce and shrimp; veal bracciolatini, and other dishes. There'll be Super Bowl specials on Feb. 7 -- 8 high-def flatscreen TVs, all-you-can-eat prime rib buffet, give-a-ways, raffles, and drink specials; and look for Valentines specials such as lobsters sautéed with early spring vegetables in a sambuca cream sauce, and Godiva Caramel Tinis. You can still stay late for dancing, to burn off all these calories. And good news for Saugus party-types: the town isn't rolling back closing time to 1a.m. after all.
Lamb Osso Bucco
Ingredients:
- 6 16 oz. lamb shanks
- 4 28 oz. cans of peeled plum tomatoes (mashed by hand)
- 1 lg white onion, quartered
- 2 lg carrots cut in 1-2 inch chunks for braising
- 1 head of celery cut in large pieces
- 1 bunch chopped fresh basil
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 cups white wine
- 3 cups beef broth
- 1 orange, sliced
- 1 lemon, sliced
- Flour for dusting
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Vegetable oil for frying (approx 1 cup)
Directions:
1. Coat lamb shanks with flour & salt and pepper and fry until brown on both sides.
2. Place lamb into deep hotel pan for braising.
3. While waiting for lamb to brown, combine garlic, olive oil, white wine & beef broth in sauce pan and sauté garlic is browned, then lower to simmer.
4. Place vegetables, basil and tomatoes in pan with lamb, add sautéed garlic mixture over top.
5. Place sliced orange and lemon slices on top and braise in oven for approx. 2 hours @ 325 degrees.
6. When meat falls off bone, osso bucco is ready to be removed from oven and enjoyed!
Risotto
Ingredients:
- ½ cup diced white onions
- ¼ lb butter
- 2 lbs Arborio Rice (risotto)
- 6 cups chicken broth
Directions:
1. Sauté onions with butter. Add risotto & chicken broth.
2. Cook on low to medium heat until boiling.
3. Remove from heat and cover until all liquid is evaporated.
Place risotto on plate and top first with lamb shank. Pour sauce and vegetables over entire dish.
* Vegetables may be removed from braising pan and pureed for a thinner sauce if desired.
