Monday, March 14, 2011

Birthday Dinner at The Common Man

On Friday night, I drove up to New Hampshire to celebrate my mother's birthday. One of her favorite restaurants is The Common Man, so me, my mom, my dad and my brother all went to their Merrimack location for her celebratory dinner.

There was about a 20 to 25 minute wait for a table, so we opted to wait upstairs in The C-Man's lounge and have a pre-dinner cocktail. My mom and I both ordered a glass of dry Pinot Grigio.


I love the rustic, cottage-like atmosphere of The Common Man. The Merrimack location is even set inside the former home of Hannah Jack Thornton (wife of Matthew Thornton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence), which is fascinating to me. It was really nice catching up with my family while sipping a nice glass of wine, and taking in the history of the place. However, after about 40 minutes, I walked downstairs to to see what the extra wait was for. The hostess admitted - very apologetically - that she gave our table of four to another party. Thankfully, she quickly fixed the situation, and we sat down for dinner.

I have to admit, I didn't think The Common Man had many vegetarian-friendly dinner options. But, after perusing the menu, I was pleasantly surprised - there were quite a few meatless options, including Stuffed Acorn Squash and Butternut Ravioli (both seasonal dishes). After some consideration, I finally decided on the ravioli.


The ravioli is normally an appetizer, but the waitress doubled the order for me - so I ended up with 10 well-stuffed raviolis. The filling was silky smooth and wasn't overly sweetened, as some similar varieties can be. The sauce, which was a sage brown butter sauce, was also very flavorful, albeit a bit too oily for my liking.

Our meal, per usual, came with complimentary crackers with cheese and/or dip, as well as freshly made date nut bread and Italian bread. My mother had a great birthday dinner overall, and I was so happy to have been there celebrating with her. 

2 comments:

  1. I love the Common Man! I've never been to the Merrimack location but to the locations farther North - I think Plymouth / Ashland.

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  2. It sounds like your mom had a great birthday dinner!

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