Dishes reflect seasonal trends, global influences, healthful options
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Not Your Average Joe’s, a 19-unit upscale-casual chain based in Middleboro, Mass., has revamped its menu with 14 new items that reflect the seasonality of spring and summer, embrace a wider array of global influences and target diners looking for more healthful options.
The items have gradually rolled out in recent weeks, and will be available through mid-October, when the fall-winter menu will debut.
Not Your Average Joe’s has 16 restaurants in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and three in the Mid-Atlantic region. A new location in the Philadelphia area is scheduled to open in June.
Executive chef Jeff Tenner, who oversees Not Your Average Joe’s from-scratch kitchens, each of which also has its own chef, said he plans to introduce more regional items as the chain expands.
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“We’re looking at a little more regionalization as we evolve,” said Tenner, who is a veteran of regional chain restaurant operations.
Before joining Not Your Average Joe’s last August, he was corporate chef of Bertucci’s, a Massachusetts-based Italian casual-dining chain with about 95 locations. Before that, he was a chef at Whole Foods, and earlier was corporate chef of 35-unit Legal Sea Foods, based in Boston.
The new items on Tenner’s first revamped menu at Not Your Average Joe’s are:
• Spicy Tuna Sushi Roll: Tempura-battered maki roll with harissa aïoli, teriyaki glaze and pickled ginger, served warm on the outside and cold on the inside, $8.99
Clockwise from top left: Ahi Tuna, Nacho Average Nachos, Saffron Cod and Pan-Seared Crab Cake, Goat Cheese and Artichoke Cannelloni with Basil Chicken
• Nacho Average Nachos: Crispy corn tortilla half-moons layered with chipotle braised chicken, melted pepper Jack cheese, cumin sour cream and avocado corn salsa, assembled to order, $8.99
• Stuffed Quahogs: Large Rhode Island clams stuffed with spicy linguiça sausage, roasted onions and grilled corn, drizzled with Tabasco aïoli, available only in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, $8.50
• Heirloom Tomato and Goat Cheese Flatbread: Topped with basil pesto, micro arugula and mozzarella, $9.99
• Fish Tacos: Sautéed or battered and fried fish in soft flour tortillas with red pepper escabèche and chipotle aïoli, served with fried plantains, $11.99
• Ahi Tuna: Seared rare with black pepper and toasted sesame seeds, served with seaweed salad and a slaw of Napa cabbage, jícama and mango dressed in orange-sesame vinaigrette, $13.99
• Steak Salad: Grilled hanger steak with an iceberg wedge topped with blue cheese, country bacon, red onions and grape tomatoes, with horseradish-mustard dressing, $13.99 at lunch, or for $19.99 a Steak Wedge, available at dinner
• Nantucket Chopped Salad: Made with cranberries pickled in red wine vinegar, water, sugar and salt, as well as grilled chicken, blue cheese, bacon, grilled corn, chopped kale and romaine lettuce with a mustard barbecue vinaigrette, $11.99
• Capellini Nuevo: Sautéed shrimp, grilled corn, cilantro and arugula with tomatillo chipotle sauce, cotija cheese and crispy zucchini fries, $16.99
• Saffron Cod and Pan-Seared Crab Cake: Cod in chorizo-corn lobster broth over a pan-seared crab cake, topped with saffron aïoli, $21.99
• Chicken Caprese: Chicken marinated in lemon and herbs, grilled and served with a salad of heirloom tomatoes, arugula, fresh mozzarella and shaved Romano cheese, with a light lemon vinaigrette, $14.99
• Goat Cheese and Artichoke Cannelloni with Basil Chicken: Cannelloni stuffed with goat cheese, artichoke, potato, kale and pine nuts, served with grilled chicken breast, tomato basil coulis and chopped zucchini, squash and asparagus, $16.99, or a vegetarian version, $14.99
• Herb-Crusted Haddock: Pan-seared and served with fries, coleslaw and tartar sauce, available only in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, $17.99
• Pulled Pork Pretzel Bites: Pulled pork, housemade barbecue sauce, coleslaw and crispy onion strings, served over pretzel bread, available only in the Mid-Atlantic, $9.50.
Additionally, Tenner has created three items for the Philadelphia-area locations: local burrata with kale-pistachio pesto on focaccia, Kennett Square mushrooms with fontina cheese on thin-crust flatbread, and a cheesesteak spring roll with spicy Chinese mustard dipping sauce.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
