Sweet Potato Fries with Maple Syrup, The Common Man, Merrimack
Maple Baby Back Ribs & Eggs, Parker's Maple Barn, Mason
Maple Walnut Ice Cream, Puritan Backroom Restaurant, Manchester
Maple Creams, Martha's Exchange Sweet Shoppe, Nashua
Maple Hazelnut Cream Cheese on a French Toast Bagel, La Javanaise Cafe, Nashua
Sweet Potato Fries with Maple Syrup, The Common Man, Merrimack
Pancakes and french toast are nothing without maple syrup. The sweet, seductive, copper-colored sauce falling down a pillar of pancakes can make any Sunday morning complete. However, being a resident of New Hampshire means there is an abundance of locally made maple – and plenty of places aren’t using it just for breakfast anymore. Behold a sampling of the nearby eateries making the most of maple.
Sweet Potato Fries with Maple Syrup
COST: $4.99.
WHERE: The Common Man Lounge, 304 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack. 429-3463 or www.thecman.com.
By far, this is the best combination on Earth: extra crispy fries filled with soft sweet potato, dipped in just-pumped-out-of-the-tree maple syrup. The slightly salty flavor from the fries helped balance the sweetness of the syrup, although this dish is more for the sweet tooths than the savory fans. The crunchy texture of the fries helps this unique pairing taste similar to french toast sticks at times, but this diner’s not complaining.
Maple Baby Back Ribs & Eggs
COST: $14.99.
WHERE: Parker’s Maple Barn, 1316 Brookline Road, Mason. 878-2308 or www.parkersmaplebarn.com.
Parker’s Maple Barn is the king of everything maple. From maple coffee to maple burgers, this restaurant knows its syrup. It also know its ribs. The generous portion of its Maple Baby Back Ribs & Eggs contained half a rack of pork ribs with two eggs any style, home fries and toast (not pictured). The ribs fell off the bone with only a slight touch of the finger and had more juice than the glass of O.J. on the table. The exterior was also delightfully crispy and held a subtle, yet obvious, maple and brown sugar flavor.
Maple Walnut Ice Cream
COST: $2.80 (small).
WHERE: Puritan Backroom Restaurant, 245 Hooksett Road, Manchester. 669-6890 or www.puritanbackroom.com.
The Puritan Backroom makes all its own ice cream, and it shows in the taste. Its maple walnut concoction is super creamy and rich, and had as much maple flavor as straight-up syrup. Just the right amount of large walnuts floated around in the creamy clouds of maple, too, without making the texture too chewy. The ice cream, however, should come with a warning label: Puritan’s small-sized cups are quite large, and the homemade ice cream is dense. Dive in at your own pace.
Maple Creams
COST: $2.85 (for four)
WHERE: Martha’s Exchange Sweet Shoppe, 185 Main St., Nashua. 883-8781 or www.marthas-exchange.com.
Martha’s Sweet Shoppe has several maple-inspired candies this time of year, but its maple creams are worth an honorable mention. The delicacies come covered in milk or dark chocolate, and are filled with insanely sweet, fluffy maple cream. The dark chocolate combination was the most successful, as the balance of the bitter coating and ultra-sweet filling helped offset a possible sugar overload.
Maple Hazelnut Cream Cheese on a French Toast Bagel
COST: $2.44.
WHERE: La Javanaise Cafe, 650 Amherst St., Nashua. 996-1856 or www.lajavanaise.com.
Move over, walnuts: Hazelnut may be maple’s newest companion – in cream cheese, at least. La Javanaise’s maple creation is best on its french toast bagels, which also hold a slight maple flavor. The cream cheese lacks a strong caramelized taste, although a hint of maple lingers in the background. The hazelnuts also added a much-needed crunch, where walnuts would have become too soggy to stand on their own.
