But not to worry: You don’t need to climb anything to get to Tavolino.
In case you don’t know, Patriot Place is a shopping and restaurant complex adjacent to Gillette Stadium. The grading and layout of the enormous site, which includes the 71,000-seat arena, is such a marvelous engineering feat that one end of the outdoor walking mall hangs in the air high above street level while the other end is at street level. You can, therefore, park either just feet from Tavolino, or near the stadium ticket windows, climb the pyramid-like stairs, and walk the length of the mall to the restaurant.
I arrived late, but earlier than my dining partner, and hungry. Our server was flexible and responsive and I had a cup of the soup du jour ($4) - a good, thick bean and sausage - in front of me within minutes.
Although the mall was quiet, Tavolino at 7 p.m. was nearly full. The restaurant has a light, easy ambience that’s inviting. The space is clean and simple with tall windows on two sides. The design is dominated by a curvy marquee-like structure over the bar that changes colors through the effects of projected light.
The saucer of oil that came with the warm bruschetta and Italian bread had a small dollop of very finely minced garlic in the center of it - which I’ve never seen before. I was (and remain) delighted with this, as I could dip my bread in the oil, lightly touch the little island of garlic, and come up with a bite that tasted like garlic bread. Brilliant!
Once the soup soothed the savage beast, we restarted with the fried calamari ($11) with citrus tomato aioli. It was good and light and the aioli was delicious. The dish came with two cherry peppers that offered nice little hits of hotness if you chose to peck at them.
Next, my dining partner and I shared a good, lightly dressed mesclun salad ($7) and a great butternut squash tortellacci (enormous tortellini) ($16). These were wonderfully al dente and served with caramelized onions, a dollop of mascarpone, and a light bourbon cider sauce.
