Apr 19, 201104:52 PM
Exploring the South Shore one bite at a time
Tempted to Lunch
When leftovers earmarked for supper left options slim for lunch last week, it was time to search out a sandwich. To that end, my rumbling belly led me to Circe’s Grotto in North Scituate. I’m always glad when it does. In theory, a grotto is damp and cold. Circe’s is anything but.
Step into this pint-sized store front and you will invariably smell something baking— blueberry muffins, to-die-for cinnamon rolls, or at lunch time, chocolate chip cookies and blond brownies—all baked with such care they taste like they came out of grandmother’s oven. But I’m not sure even Grandma would have thought of this. Order coffee light and sweet and they shake the brew in a stainless container before pouring it into a cup, insuring optimum distribution of sugar and cream.
Open Monday–Saturday, Circe’s Grotto features a chalkboard full of creative sandwiches, highlighting specialty meats as well as several vegetarian offerings. All items are made with fresh ingredients on artisan bread. (The board also offers salads, plus a small selection of breakfast sandwiches served until 11:00 daily.)
Having experienced Circe’s siren call previously, I knew I couldn’t go wrong. But I pondered the selections anyway, tempted by the oven roasted chicken sandwich with gorgonzola, red peppers and mixed greens ($7.95), a California BLT with avocado and red pepper mayo ($7.95) and a Portobello sandwich with roasted red peppers and Chevre, grilled on flatbread ($6.95).
In the end, roast beef with horseradish mayo, mixed greens and roasted peppers ($6.95) called to me. Served on my choice of dense and yeasty Tuscan bread, the large sandwich would have been enough to fill me, but cookies had just come out of the oven. The plan? Eat half the sandwich and a cookie. Pack the remainder away for the next day’s lunch.
The restaurant’s limited seating precluded eating in that day, so I grabbed my brown bag and drove to the beach where I watched the waves, tingled from the horseradish kick, and swooned over the still-warm cookie. Then I realized Circe, the sorceress from Greek Mythology who turned Odysseus’s men into pigs, must still be in business. Full as I was when I finished, I couldn’t stop myself.
I ate the rest of the sandwich for dessert.
Liza Carens Salerno is a freelance business writer from the South Shore. She works part-time at a cheese shop and can’t decide which is more fun—working with food or writing about it. Liza blogs at www.middlepassages-lcs.blogspot.com.
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