Espo's Restaurant & Bar
cuisine - Red Sauce Italian
10 Second Street Raritan, NJ 08869 | WEBSITE | (908) 685-9552
WE FOUND IT!
Our local goto Red Sauce Italian place!
NJ is sparsely dotted with Italian joints like Espo's; smack dab in the middle of well established neighborhoods where patrons jockey for parking amongst the residents cars but the food is so good that walking a few blocks is hardly what I would call an inconvenience.
Inside, while I hear it was recently (and tastefully) renovated, Espo's has the classic layout of old school neighborhood joints of a long bar against one wall and tables placed cozily near each other as if they were designed for the neighborhood families to come and break bread together...oh yeah, back in the day that's exactly the purpose the restaurant served.
We arrived at 5:15 on a Thursday night and all but two tables were taken. We received a hearty and heartfelt greeting from the bartender who's name I failed to ask. A minute later we were welcomed by the (new) owner Nick who sat us at a two top against the wall opposite the bar. Menus were given and our drink order was taken very soon there after.
A simple menu of Italian classics made choosing our food easy and by the time our drinks came we knew what we wanted.
Our entrees came with the house salad of Romaine lettuce, red onion, and tomatoes in their house dressing, a white balsamic Vinegrette with a Peperoncini on top.
We shared the Hotsy Totsy Shrimp that was served with a basket of two types of bread and foil wrapped butter pats, you know old school as opposed to a slab of butter with Artisinal Organic Sea Salt and Rosemary garnish sprinkled on top...to Nick...please don't ever switch to the latter, lol
The Shrimp is offered with your choice of sauce: Marinara (sweet or hot) or Vodka sauce. We got the marinara with a dish of Hot on the side. Their version of this popular appetizer was delicious and there was just enough bread to wipe the plate clean of any remnants of that killer Marinara.
For entrees, we ordered two dishes that are more often than not, made poorly at too many Italian restaurants that we've been to and have become our test subjects when dining at a new to us Italian restaurant.
She ordered the Eggplant Parmesan and I, the Linguine in White Clam Sauce.
The eggplant parm was well made with layers of thinly slice, skin on eggplant, clearly breaded in house, layered with Marinara and topped with a blanket of Mozzarella then baked to a creamy and luscious solid comfort dish.
The Linguine in White Clam, for me, was nearing perfection with tender chopped clams, copious amounts of minced garlic, ample amounts of pasta and a nicely emulsified sauce. What would have taken it over the top would have been a more discernible presence of white wine and more of the briney flavor that I expect from clams. That being said, I will most likely order this dish every time I visit Espo's.
We both took at least half of our entrees home as the portions are large. What wasn't large was the bill. We skipped dessert and we did not have any alcohol, but that isn't unusual for us. The bill was $52 plus tip. Well below what we spend on dinner in a lot of places we go to.
We love Espo's and will be back soon and often!
