Bosa, you should know, is a small fishing village on the island of Sardinia. To get there from here, you take a flight to Rome, hop a one-hour flight to Alghero along the western coast, and drive south an hour farther. There, you’ll find the familiar cerulean blues of the Mediterranean, alongside some of the island’s freshest seafood.
But you don’t have to fly to Italy’s second-largest island for an authentic—and seafood-centric—meal. In April, Bosa Coastal Italian opened its doors in downtown Haverhill, the newest project from the Lupoli Hospitality Group (which also owns 34 Park in Andover and the Sal’s Pizza brand), who have solicited the help of regional executive chef Jimi Gallant and chef du cuisine Christian Zaimes. A modern, industrial space—exposed ducts on the ceilings are softened by hanging ferns—Bosa reads as modern and inviting.
A Marra Forni oven, with bricks imported from the Mt. Vesuvius region of Italy, occupies the far end of the L-shaped bar; pizzas are cooked at 600 degrees, I would come to find out. The restaurant has eight of the chewy, charred pies to choose from, but I opted for the margherita, which features the highly coveted fior di latte mozzarella, soft and buttery and made from cow’s milk.
The chic main dining room, where I ate with my companion, combines the sensibility of a bar with the food of a restaurant. Tables are elevated like high-tops, with camel-colored leather banquette-style seating on the back side. The menu, for its part, is snackable, shareable, and imminently pairable with the menu’s diverse cocktail list. (I started with the Ciliega, Bosa’s name for the traditional New England cherry-lime rickey, while my companion enjoyed the Nauti Negroni, made with White Squall gin, Campari, and a Dr. Pepper floater.)
The so-called “Shareables” section of the menu includes everything from crab croquettes, which arrive three to a plate and filled with a warm mix of shellfish that tastes decidedly of tarragon to house-made paccheri, a wide and circular pasta that comes cloaked in a slightly spicy tomato vodka sauce. Alongside this, a basket of crisp pitas and focaccia with a tomato oil dipping sauce on one side and garlicky garbanzo bean spread on the other. The breads are made by pastry chef Jillian Marden and are a pretty little prelude to how dinner will conclude.
The Italian dish of spiedini—traditionally, ground meat wrapped around a skewer and grilled—is reinterpreted in a section that is dedicated to the sticks. We opted for baby shrimp, accompanied by a rich aioli. Next came that aforementioned pizza, of course, as well as another item from the “Shareables” section: thin planks of seared tuna beneath a gremolata and black garlic, cucumber, and molasses.
Dessert was a feast for the senses. Tiny cannoli come four to a plate and are crisp on the outside and creamy within (you can order them either with pistachio or studded with chocolate chips, and we opted for the latter). A chocolate torte with brown butter foam and berries found its way to our table, as did a particularly creamy tiramisu. Beneath its layers of mascarpone and Marsala-espresso-soaked ladyfingers, we encountered chocolate pearls and swirls of espresso caramel.
The restaurant now accepts reservations via telephone and Toast. Beginning in May, the occupancy will be expanding, too. Currently, the restaurant seats 50 in the dining room and 26 at the bar, with a patio arriving in May. On the 10th floor, the rooftop bar will allow for 24 at the bar and 135 on the patio, with an unparalleled view of the Merrimack and surrounding downtown Haverhill.
But even on a Monday night in late April, with frost still threatening, the restaurant was busy. Maybe busier than anything else in town. It seemed relatively clear to me that Bosa was going to be the next big thing in these parts, and not just for the locals of Haverhill, but maybe for the people all around the North Shore. With a dedication to fresh and house-made cuisine and a setting that shimmers with possibility, it isn’t hard to see the potential.
And there is, too, the built-in clientele. Sandwiched between the ground-floor restaurant and its rooftop bar is The Heights at Haverhill, a luxury apartment complex filled with amenities and designer finishes. (The building is also a Lupoli project, as it happens, and has enjoyed its own enthusiasm, with apartments renting nearly the minute they hit the market.)
But whether you regard Bosa Coastal Italian as your neighborhood hang or your destination must-visit on the North Shore, it must be said: This is an ambitious restaurant that seeks to do right by guests and right by Haverhill. It may not be Sardinia, but it does feel worlds away.
160 Merrimack St., Haverhill, 978-641-3149, bosaitalian.com