D'Agnese's Tomato Grill boasts dressy style, good flavors in Hudson

by Bob Migra

Friday September 05, 2008, 12:00 PM

TASTE OF THE TOWN

It did not take me long to figure out where my feeling of dejà vu came from the first time we rolled into Hudson's Main Street shopping and dining district to experience D'Agnese's Tomato Grill.

I live about a mile from a nearly identical-looking development -- Westlake's Crocker Park. The difference? Crocker Park was carved out of an empty field and made to look like an old downtown. Hudson's development is an old downtown made to look fresh and new, with the same trendy chain stores, BMWs, Hummers and the occasional Prius filling the on-street parking spaces, and restaurants of every fashion providing sustenance for hungry shoppers.

HUDSON -- The Tomato Grill, one of three restaurants in the D'Agnese's group, fits right into this pocket of prosperity. Modern-looking, with pastel colors, blond wood trim and walls filled with wine storage racks, the restaurant was full on both of our visits.

But it's not just the draw of the district that packs them in. For the most part, the food we sampled was very good and reasonably priced, a combination that works in any neighborhood.

The large menu is heavy on Italian classics, like the three P's (pasta, pizza, parmigiana). We found the kitchen excelled at some of the more eclectic dishes, though.

My neighbor's Crab Stuffed Salmon ($18) featured a large serving of moist, fresh-tasting fish. Sweet crab meat, mushrooms and a Marsala wine reduction sauce provided a full range of flavors that complemented the salmon perfectly.

The chefs hit another home run with the Braised Pork Shanks ($17). Now, this is not a dish you would normally order on a 90-degree August night. But I'm glad I did. It featured a huge portion of tasty, fall-off-the-bone tender pork. A broth filled with carrots, onions, celery and tomatoes was rich but free of grease.

Veal Saltimbocca ($18.50), with prosciutto, mushrooms, spinach and mozzarella, the restaurant's signature lemon-butter sauce, and a side of pasta with marinara was another crowd-pleaser. Our neighbor's "9-3/4-year-old" daughter loved the stringy cheese on her crisp-crust Pepperoni Pizza ($11).

Appetizers also hit the mark. Roasted Vegetable Napoleon ($7) combined all the goodness of the harvest season. Sausage and Gorgonzola Stuffed Mushrooms ($9) tasted great, but were not heated all the way through.

The kitchen flunked this exam on one dish. Herb Crusted Chicken ($14.50) was badly overcooked. Thin, skinless breast strips were burned on the edges, tough and dry in the middle. Any herb taste was cooked out of the bread-crumb topping.

Other dishes were good, but not what I expected. Linguini Carbonara ($12.50) substituted limp prosciutto and alfredo sauce for the traditional egg, parmesan cheese and crisp pancetta preparation. I asked for a side order of polenta ($3) with butter with the chicken dish, expecting creamy polenta. I got, without complaint, fried polenta cakes with lemon-butter sauce. The excellent cakes were hot and crisp outside, creamy and cheesy inside.

Another dish that missed my definition was D'Agnese's Tiramisu ($4). The classic dessert came as a dry cake, not the layers of sweet, moist, alcohol-laced decadence I'm used to.

But hey, it's downtown Hudson, not Rome. If I lived as close to the Tomato Grill as Crocker Park, I would gladly put up with a few dishes that don't fit my expectations to enjoy the restaurant's general goodness, reasonable prices and classy look.

Bob Migra is a free-lance writer in Westlake.

TASTE BITES

D'Agnese's Tomato Grill

Where: 106 First St., Hudson.

Phone: 330-342-3771.

Hours: 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Friday; 12-10:30 p.m. Saturday; 4-9 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday.

Prices: Lunch $4-$10; appetizers $6-$10; salads $3-$8.50; entrees $12.50-$26; desserts $3-$6.

Reservations: Accepted.

Credit cards: All major cards.

Cleanliness: Excellent throughout the restaurant.

Kid friendliness: Children's dishes available on request.

Quality of service: Varied. On one visit, our server seemed either a little disinterested or inexperienced. On another, the enthusiastic server went out of her way to please.

Noise level: Comfortable, even though the restaurant was packed both nights we visited.

Bar: Full service. The reasonably-priced wine list contains a few excellent, hard-to-find bottles from small wineries in California and Italy. The Brownstone cabernet blend was a steal for $24.

Accessibility: Fully accessible.

Grade: **