by Alice Bartram ·
Friday, August 16, 2024
Casta Diva was a 1935 Italian musical drama film with a plot revolving around Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini and his 1831 opera “Norma,” which features an aria directed at the moon goddess, referred to as “casta diva” (chaste goddess). The aria inspired Aurelio Metohu, chef-owner of Casta Diva restaurant in Northborough, who explains on the restaurant’s website, “We hope to capture some of the qualities of this music in our dining experience.” Casta Diva provides guests with authentic Northern Italian cuisine, prepared to order, with locally sourced fresh ingredients, including freshly made pasta. Ingredients are also imported from Italy, including many wines.
The website also explains that Casta Diva, which opened in 2019, was founded on the idea that the people of Central Massachusetts shouldn’t have to go all the way to Boston’s North End to get real, fresh, Northern Italian cuisine.
After a much shorter drive than that to the North End, my two friends and I arrived at Casta Diva and found ample, easy parking (a big difference from Boston dining). Situated on Solomon Pond (that of the mall), the restaurant has two large dining rooms, a separate private function room and— important on the summer evening we visited—patio space for diners to enjoy al fresco dining with a pond view.
We settled into our high-top patio table (the patio has both regular height tables and high-tops spread across two sections) and checked out the cocktails, settling on a variant of the classic Italian summertime drink, Aperol spritz, and a coconut, rum-based concoction called a coco chill, which was served in a delightful coupe glass. Both were refreshing in the warm weather.
The menu offers a wide selection, and our excellent server explained some specials. We ordered bruschetta and the watermelon salad special to start, discussing the correct way to pronounce “‘bruschetta.” Upon returning home, a quick Google search explained that the ‘ch’ should be pronounced like a “k” (broo-SKEH-tuh).
Four pieces of bruschetta arrived: lightly toasted bread rounds generously topped with olive oil and chopped tomatoes seasoned with a lot of garlic. They were crisp and tasty. The watermelon salad was four thin, rectangular slices of watermelon, layered with feta and toasted almonds, served on a bed of arugula, and drizzled with balsamic glaze. A perfect summer appetizer. We make a watermelon, feta, and mint salad at home, but we found the almonds were a great addition and the arugula instead of mint made it a more substantial dish.
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Northern Italian dishes feature meat more than those from the south, so it was no surprise to see chicken, veal, and steak dishes on the menu, and also the classic sauces, including Marsala (a buttery sauce made with Marsala wine), piccata (another buttery sauce, this time with white wine, lemon and capers, though Casta Diva offers an option without capers) and parmigiana. Other meat dishes included two veal scaloppine variants, filet mignon, prime rib eye, and a surf and turf option. Risotto, the creamy rice dish, has its roots in northern Italy; Casta Diva offers four risotto menu choices: shellfish, shrimp, beef, and mushroom.
Despite how great the meat dishes sounded, we all ended up opting for seafood, which is featured in both northern and southern Italian cooking. Two of us selected the scaloppine alla pescatore: shrimp, littleneck clams, mussels, and calamari, sauteed with onion and garlic and served over pasta (choice of linguini, penne, or cavatelli). The dish is offered with either red or white sauce. The server was clear that the white sauce (white wine and garlic, no cream) is a favorite, so we both went with that. One friend does not like mussels, so that modification was easily accommodated.
The dish was delicious, with both the seafood and linguini perfectly cooked. Shellfish were in their shells; the littlenecks were smaller than what I am used to. The calamari was also small, which was great as it made for more tender eating. The wine sauce was light and not overly seasoned; it also seemed to have a bit of clam broth (or maybe pureed clams), which made the sauce enjoyably thicker.
Our other friend had the salmon alla griglia (marinated grilled salmon served with roasted vegetables of the day), which she said was delicious. Appropriate for the season, the vegetables were thick rounds of zucchini and summer squash, and they looked fresh and delicious.
Portions were large, so we skipped dessert, though we did linger to enjoy the pond view and the cooling evening a bit longer over a cocktail or mocktail each.
As far as we could tell, we didn’t run into any chaste goddesses on our visit to Casta Diva, but we did have an enjoyable evening with satisfying food and great service. When you are next craving Italian, try a more local option to the North End and give Casta Diva a try. For one of the group, it was so great, she went back the next week with her husband, afterwards raving about the service, her second order of the seafood pasta, her husband’s pasta carbonara, and the scallop appetizer special they shared.
Alice Bartram leaves much of the cooking to her husband, though she has many Instagram-saved recipes that she’ll get to one day as, really, she finds eating out more fun than cooking.