Il Massimo’s frito misto, a piping hot plate of fried shrimp, scallops, calamari, octopus, and smelts. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe.
WHO’S IN CHARGE
It’s uplifting that the newest restaurant at Dedham’s Legacy Place is an Italian family-run spot, not a chain. Il Massimo is owned by Esther and Joseph DeQuattro, a husband-and-wife team from Providence. The couple have been in the business since opening their first restaurant, Pane e Vino, on Federal Hill in Providence in 2002. Fourteen years later, in 2016, they launched Il Massimo in the same neighborhood. Last year, Legacy Place approached the couple about opening another Il Massimo in Dedham, and they decided to go for it: “It’s only 35 minutes without traffic,” said Esther (don’t smile, Boston). On any given day, the DeQuattros will be at one or another of their three places. Executive chef Joseph, who learned to cook from his Italian grandmother and mother in Providence, oversees kitchen operations, and Esther the front of house. Running the Dedham kitchen on a day-to-day basis is chef Edgar Morales, who left his job as the chef of Il Massimo Providence to open Legacy Place.
THE LOCALE
Il Massimo at Legacy Place. Photo by Joan Wilder for the Boston Globe.
When the DeQuattros acquired the space that Met Bar & Grill vacated last summer, they took it down to the studs and spent five months renovating. The result is a spacious 200-seat restaurant with tall ceilings, chandeliers, a large glass wine wall, modern fireplaces, and several different seating environments. There are tables in dimly lit areas, wooden high tops, an elevated row of round booths along one wall, a curtained private room for 40. An L-shaped bar extends into a grouping of tables street-side in a light-filled area with white walls that opens to an enclosed, trellised patio. Depending on where you’re sitting, Il Massimo is good for a private relaxed meal, a bite after J. Crew (but before Anthropologie), drinks after work, or a private party. It has a high-energy, capable, corporate feel, but because it’s in a shopping and entertainment center, guests have carte blanche to come as they are: in sweats during a day of shopping, dressed up to do the town, or anything in between.
ON THE MENU
Il Massimo is open all day and the lunch, brunch, and dinner menus are large with lots of good choices. The restaurant also offers a prix fixe three-course lunch with many choices for $20, which is hard to beat. I’m crazy about the polpo appetizer ($14 lunch/$15 dinner): It’s a cold plate of poached octopus, sliced as thinly as prosciutto, served with raw fennel, oranges, and micro-greens. The luscious fritto misto ($16 lunch/$18 dinner) antipasto is a piping hot plate of fried shrimp, scallops, calamari, octopus (that eat like scallops), and tiny little headless smelts. The Caesar salad ($10 lunch/$12 dinner) delivers its classic goodness (and is a large plate even when ordered as part of the prix fixe lunch). Fettuccine alla Bolognese ($16 lunch/$23 dinner) has never been my favorite dish, but our friend liked his. The eggplant Parmesan ($12 lunch) has thin delicate slices of eggplant, but never mind that — order the ravioli ripieni di burrata ($16 lunch/$20 dinner)! The large ravioli ooze soft burrata cheese and are covered with a buttery stew of grape tomatoes, toasted garlic, and herbs. The branzino is an equally enticing ($18 lunch/$26 dinner) dish. The whole grilled fish (sans head) is butterflied and served with soft beluga lentils and a pile of perfect cauliflowerettes toasted to a gorgeous medium brown. What a fab new restaurant!
Il Massimo, 400 Legacy Place, Dedham, 781-493-8113, dedham.massimori.com.
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