A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

I know what you’re thinking when I say I was invited to Not Your Average Joe’s for a harvest dinner. You’re probably thinking of the older locations, like the one in Watertown. But the new location in Waltham is the future of the brand. The restaurant is conveniently located right off of Route 128 and has plenty of parking. They have a great outdoor space, and even though it was a bit chilly, we cozied up to the fire pit before dinner (they have blankets if you want them). They are planning for a bocce court and other outdoor activities when the weather gets warmer.

We head inside and there is a great little waiting area (bottom right). Rumor has it that when CEO Steve Silverstein came in to the restaurant, he thought that the waiting area needed additional seating – so he and his wife jumped in the car and brought back some great Anthropologie chairs!

The restaurant has a large bar area where you can watch the game or meet some new friends at a communal high top table. I love the counter at the bar, it has seashells in it (top right)! The bar has 20 beers on tap and an extensive wine collection, including 21 of which you can get by the glass. The traditional dining room has a table that faces right into the kitchen – so fun to watch the hustle and bustle. The best part is that if you are sitting in the main dining space, you can’t hear the games being played at the bar, instead, you hear music.

Did you know that Not Your Average Joe’s works with local charities to help them raise money? For a month, on Tuesdays, they have this promotion, all you have to do is download the certificate on the website and bring it with you (either printed or on your phone), and 15% of the cost of your meal will be donated to the charity.

We were fortunate enough to sit with Executive Chef Jeff Tenner for our meal and he walked us through every dish. He said that the menu at Not Your Average Joe’s changes every quarter and you can expect 8-10 new dishes every three months. Jeff started off in the business in Portsmouth, NH where he owned and operated his own restaurant. He later moved into the corporate world, working for companies like Bertucci’s and Legal Sea Foods. Chef Tenner put out a very approachable menu with some classic favorites and some dishes that are a twist on the original.

Not Your Average Joe’s is known for their delicious bread. It’s baked fresh daily and comes to the table with olive oil, red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese.

We started our evening out with the deviled eggs. They were topped with sriracha chili spice and togarashi spice along with some crushed potato crisps. I’m generally not a fan of deviled eggs, but these were delicious. They were different enough from the traditional version to make anyone give this dish a second look.

The mango shrimp rolls were one of my favorite dishes. Sweet chili poached shrimp with mango, cucumber, mint, cilantro and rice noodles wrapped in a fresh roll and served with a peanut dipping sauce. What makes this dish special is the sauce!

The Caribbean buffalo chicken tenders are hand breaded and tossed with a mango, buffalo bbq sauce and is served with a pineapple jalapeño salsa. Again, another twist on a traditional dish. I loved the sauce, it was a little sweet and a little zippy.

The butternut squash flatbread was a table favorite, it came topped with a sage pecan pesto, roasted butternut squash, shaved Brussels sprouts, caramelized onions, smoked mozzarella and was finished off with a balsamic reduction. This is such a fall dish – some really great flavors here. The crust was thin and a little crispy with a great flavor.

Generally I don’t eat salad, but this super crunch salad had so many delicious things in it, you almost didn’t realize it was a salad. It came loaded with grilled chicken, quinoa, green apples, pistachios, avocado, spinach, mint and cilantro. The dressing was an orange sesame flavor that went well with the dish. I love the texture in this salad – the crisp apples, the crunchy nuts and then the smooth avocado as a balance.

The mustard crusted chicken was marinated in three mustard marinade and lightly breaded with panic crumbs. The dish is pan seared and served with green beans and garlic mashed potatoes (not shown). The mustard taste was really subtle which I really liked and those garlic mashed potatoes were heavenly – they were prepping me for Thanksgiving!!

Another table favorite was the Vietnamese salmon that was spice rubbed and grilled and served in a lime infused chili broth with rice noodles, crunchy vegetables and crushed peanuts. I loved the asian flavors in this dish and it’s not every day that you see a fish dish served with noodles – yum!

The spaghetti squash bolognese is for you veggie lovers! This dish is the vegetarian version of the Italian classic with  roasted spaghetti squash, a mushroom bolognese, sautéed spinach and it is topped with romano cheese. Again, some really nice fall flavors here.

Yes, the food keeps coming! The rosemary skewered scallops come from New Bedford and they are served over a bed of Israeli couscous, grilled corn, bacon and tomatoes. The dish was finished off with an orange chipotle glaze. I loved everything about this dish, not sure which I liked more, the scallops or the couscous salad it came on.

The cranberry teriyaki roasted chicken was another table favorite. The pan roasted Bell and Evans chicken was served with a house made butternut squash and ricotta cannelloni. It was hard to choose a favorite part of this dish since both the chicken and the pasta were excellent. The chicken was tender and juicy and the squash cannelloni was so flavorful. Both would be great solo dishes, so together, they made a great pair on the plate.

As if I had any more room in me by the time that we got to dessert. We started with the goji berry apple crisp with cinnamon spiced apples, goji berries and ginger in a brown oat crust. It was served a la mode with vanilla ice cream.

The carrot cake was gluten free and yet still delicious! It had a delicious cream cheese frosting and was drizzled with a caramel sauce.

And we ended the night with Not Your Average Joe’s signature dessert, the peanut butter thing: vanilla ice cream with peanut butter and chocolate chunks, that is rolled in Oreo cookie crumbs. It was drizzled with hot chocolate and caramel sauce table side!

Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest to the Not Your Average Joe’s Harvest Dinner. My meal was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.

Not Your Average Joe’s

56 Market Place Drive, Waltham, MA

www.notyouraveragejoes.com

Tags: casual dining, outdoor seating, restaurant, take out, vegetarian, waltham