Primo at its Prime

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There’s a great reason to revisit the revered Primo. The new antipasti bar space, reconfigured out of former upstairs offices, opened in summer 2010. Cured hams hang from the rafters, and jars of olives line open shelving, but otherwise the room has the feel of an English snuggery, with a long dark wood bar, chocolate brown tufted banquettes, and subdued lighting. You can eat at the bar and watch a chef prepare antipasti — the specialty cocktails are mixed and wine is poured from the separate traditional drinks bar just across the hall.

Scoring a reservation in Primo’s dining rooms can be the toughest ticket in town. “We wanted to add a more casual, drop-in space, with a simplified small-plates menu,” says chef and co-owner Melissa Kelly. “So we now have a total of about sixty seats upstairs for walk-ins and no-reservations-taken dining — twenty-three seats at the two bar counters and the rest at tables.” Diners also have the option of ordering off Primo’s always-stellar seasonal dining-room menu.

The antipasti menu is most decidedly Italian. “I absolutely love the way they think about food in Italy,” says Kelly. “It’s gutsy, robust, fun, seasonal, and so totally fresh — and they bring an unbelievable level of commitment to the food they produce, such as their cheeses and salami. We try to apply the same standards here.”

A primary source of inspiration is Primo’s on-premises organic production garden, and the verdure menu section reads like an Italy-in-Maine summer cornucopia, with the likes of caprese (heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil), grilled local corn with aioli, Parmigiano, and marjoram, panelle (chick pea fritters) with puttanesca sauce, sautéed summer greens with olive oil and garlic, and fried baby artichokes with aioli — all of which can also appear as bruschetta, heaped atop co-owner Price Kushner’s incomparable grilled sourdough and whole grain country breads.

Primo’s own hogs — this year a heritage Texas breed called Red Wattle — are fed on table scraps and make their own menu appearance as house-cured salumi. Many diners simply order hand-shaved prosciutto “di Primo,” smoked chorizo, soppressata, or boar lombazini and pair it with a cheese from the formaggi list, which includes imported Italian classics and Maine and Vermont artisanal selections. A plate of rich, earthy, deeply flavored Ibérico ham (the premier ham of Spain), topped with fava beans, caramelized walnuts, and shaved Parmigiano is one of the best dishes I’ve tasted off this menu.

Wood-grilled pizza and panini are popular choices. The kitchen offers daily blackboard specials in each category, and regular listings include a prosciutto white pie with garlic and garden arugula, margherita pizza with fresh mozzarella and garden basil, and the Josh Pie, topped with house-made spicy sausage, mushrooms, and onion. Perhaps the best panini I have ever eaten is the porchetta sandwich — rosemary and garlic-roasted pork, Dijon mustard, and garden cornichons.

The menu also features a dozen or so piatti and piccolo (small) piatti, which are rotated seasonally, with daily blackboard specials. There’s always a crostata del giorno — a rustic Italian pie with a well-seasoned egg-and-cheese-bound swiss chard or wild mushrooms or eggplant filling, and the arancini of the day — a famous Sicilian stuffed and deep-fried risotto ball. Other plates include tender polpette (meatballs) with pickled cherry bomb peppers, tapenade-stuffed eggs with summer herbs and capersi, fried sausage-stuffed olives, Tuscan-style pork ribs, salt cod fritters with Romesco, and Anson Mills polenta with a farm egg, butter, and greens. The piatti del giorno might be a pasta, crabmeat, chicken, or duck dish.
Kelly does a lot with chickpea flour, which she loves for its nutty flavor and also because it’s gluten-free. Socca — Kelly’s chickpea flour crepe with Picholine olives, imported anchovies, and sage — is a regular menu item and it alone is worth a visit to Primo.

Price Kushner is not only the house bread baker but also serves as charming maitre d’, oversees the wine program, and is in charge of Primo’s amazing desserts and pastries. Kushner makes sure to offer some blackboard desserts in the antipasti bar — such as a butterscotch budino with salty caramel, made-to-order zeppoles (“our almost famous doughnuts”), and lemon meringue pudding cake with huckleberry compote. Primo’s wine list runs to several pages and offers several moderately priced wines by the glass — mostly Italian selections — in the antipasti bar.

Go early or later in the evening, be prepared for a wait during prime time, but just go!

Primo is located at 2 South Main Street in Rockland. It is open for dinner only, from 5 p.m. to close, seven days a week. Formaggi $5, salumi $8, bruschetta $9, verdure $6 to $9, panini $12, pizza $18, piccolo piatti $5 to $12, piatti $9 to $16, desserts $10. 207-596-0770. www.primorestaurant.com [3]