Michael Timothy’s has fall flavors

This week’s Encore is dedicated to the area’s autumnal pleasures, so we went searching for restaurants which make an effort to make seasonal adjustments to the menu. We found a few, including Pickity Place in Mason and Z in Manchester, but we settled on a restaurant in our own backyard, and sampled fall’s gastronomic inspiration at Michael Timothy’s in downtown Nashua.

Truth be told, the foliage was pretty exquisite on Main Street, as was the fall sunset. Stepping into the cozy Mike Tim’s, as we like to call it, with its gallery of original art, brick and Tuscan gold walls got us stoked for a hearty harvest meal.

Our fall pleasure started right off the bat when our bread basket arrived with a crusty ciabatta-like homemade white bread and warm, fragrant wedges of a dark raisin bread with what tasted like allspice and a sprinkling of sugar on the crust. It didn’t need butter, but that didn’t stop us from slathering some on.

It was cool night, and that meant we were hungry to start storing calories for the winter.

Fall may not be the time of year when you think right away of seafood, but smoked seafood is whole different – you should pardon the expression – kettle of fish.

We ordered the Roasted Shallot Crepe ($12), stuffed with tiny smoked shrimp and horseradish filling, with a fall arugula and tomato salad on the side. This was by far Mrs. T for T’s favorite food of the evening. The smoky flavor of the shrimp was set off by the tang of the horseradish and the peppery freshness of the greens. A glass of Isabel Mondavi Rose ($5.50) would be a perfect accompaniment with this starter.

It being a bit chilly and all, we also sampled a hot cup of soup – on this particular evening that meant Lobster Bisque ($6). It was OK, but the tomato flavor really overpowered the lobster.

One of the reasons we chose Michael Timothy’s for this review was its Oktoberfest entree ($19), a plate brimming with traditional German home-cooking, including sauerbraten, schnitzel, bratwurst, spaetzle and red cabbage – perfect with a glass Trimbach Gewurztraminer ($7.50)

At least two of us in the party have been to Germany, one of us several times, and we couldn’t wait to see if it matched up to our gastronomical travel memories. No worries. The sauerbraten was just like Mutti used to make, and that’s no small feat. It’s not just pot roast with an attitude; good sauerbraten takes days of preparation to do right, and this was done to perfection. The meat could be cut with a fork, and it had all the tang needed to bring out the earthy richness of the roast.

Also good, but not quite like the kind we’ve had in Germany, was the schnitzel. The veal was tender and tasty, but we would have liked to see more of breaded, crispy crust, as we had in Deutschland many a frosty November evening. This was good in its own right, though.

We adored the noodles – spaetzle, which tasted very authentic and homemade, and the rotkohl (braised red cabbage) was spot on with a hint of apple.

This was very generous portion of food, really enough for a couple of days, and that is by no means a complaint.

Our second other entree – Pan-Roasted Buttermilk Chicken $19, with a marscapone-whole grain mustard pan sauce, mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach also seemed like a meal you’d love to have after picking apples, and we were right. It was rich, hearty and kind of like a deconstructed homemade chicken pot pie. The spinach was amazing. And all of it was a great match with a glass of Frei Brothers Chardonnay ($8).

And, of course, it wouldn’t be fall without some rich dessert and hot cup of a rich roast coffee ($2.50). To us, the Pear Crisp with Cinnamon Ice Cream ($9) sounded like the perfect autumn dessert. In fact, it was, but we could have used a tad more of the ice cream on the ample fruity confection. We also sampled the White Chocolate Creme Brulee ($9), with seasonal berries, not because of the fall thing, but because of the chocolate thing. The berries were fresh, the custard was creamy and rich, but the caramelized sugar was way off – chewy instead of crispy like it should be. We ended up scraping it off and eating the dessert without it.

You can’t go wrong taking a brisk walk downtown and stopping in to Michael Timothy’s for a wood grilled pizza, a glass of amazing wine or a full-course harvest feast.