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Chef Charles Draghi digs deep for a spring wine dinner at Alcove

The acclaimed chef features foraged mushrooms, sea scallops, and more on the special menu.

Spring-dug parsnip soup with blue crab, broiled local sea scallops with lobster coral, and more are on the menu for Alcove's "Spring has Sprung" wine dinner. Photos courtesy of Alcove

By Jacqueline Cain

1 minute to read

Spring may play second fiddle to summer and harvest season when it comes to New England produce, but the output popping up around this time is worth celebrating. Just ask Charles Draghi, the acclaimed chef and former owner of Boston’s Erbaluce, who’s now cooking at Alcove.

The chef and Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli, Alcove owner and a longtime beverage professional, are eager to begin offering wine-paired tasting menus. So much so that they are beginning the series in what T.S. Eliot called “the cruelest month.”

“Maybe we are crazy to be kicking it off in April, such a challenging month for local ingredients,” Draghi said. But he’s actually preparing “some of my favorite dishes.” Paired with Schlesinger-Guidelli’s wine picks: “April doesn’t have to be cruel — it actually can be delicious!”

“Spring Has Sprung” on Monday, April 4, features a five-course menu alive with early-season flavors, from foraged mushrooms to local scallops, optionally matched with five wine selections or non-alcoholic beverages. Check out the menu below. The dinner is $95 per person, plus $70 for wine pairings or $40 for non-spirit pairings. Reservations can be made online or by calling Alcove.

Spring-Dug Parsnip Soup, blue crab

· 2020 Rudi Pichler Gruner Veltliner Federspiel, Wachau, Austria

Broiled Local Sea Scallops, lobster coral

· 2018 Loimer Riesling, Kamptal, Austria

Potato Gnocchi, porcini + maitake mushroom

· 2019 Drew ‘The Fog Eater’ Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley, California

Roasted Lamb, black olive tapenade, lemon + pecorino sabayon

· 2017 Elvio Cogno ‘Bordini’, Barbaresco, Italy

Tuscan Trifle, coffee, cocoa, crème anglaise

· 2017 Corte Sant’alda, Recioto Della Valpolicella, Valle di Mezzane, Italy