The Tuckaway Tavern
And Butchery
56 Route 27
Raymond NH
When I first heard of The Tuckaway Tavern, I was worried, places with alot of hype around them make me nervous, there comes with them a kind of pressure to like them, not only for what they do, but for those who tell you that you just have to try the place, or because you want to be fair, and not let down your followers, thats why I was abit scared to do this review at first, I found myself thinking "Is this place REALLY as good as the hype?", "Could it all be as good as it looks when they are on tv?", "Is there a downside I don't see?", "Are the rumors about the up to three hour wait times real? and if so, are they truly worth the wait time?", so many questions going through my head, but finally, I decided it was time to just dive in head first, and not be put off by the hype, the awards, and the pressure to do a good review. And I must tell you, in all honesty, I am so glad I did, because The Tuckaway Tavern is truly amazing.
And by amazing, I really do mean, amazing, their pedigree is incredible, several best of awards given out by New Hampshire Magazine, Yankee Magazine, The Hippo Press, as well as local food programs The Phantom Gourmet and New Hampshire Chronicle, for both the restaurant, and the butcher shop they have attached to them. Yes, you read that right, they have a full service butcher shop attached to them, aside from being an food person's dream, what this means for you as a customer is, say you order some of their best in the state steak tips, and love them so much, you want to take them home to share with your friends, or want to piss off a vegetarian you know, or maybe some crazy shut in relative that you cook for sometimes, that means you can walk right from the restaurant where you just ate them, and buy however many pounds you wish to take home, and the quality is exactly the same, because their butcher shop, is their suppler of all things they make. So you can literally take home the exact same meal you just ate if you wish. Isn't that the greatest and craziest thing you've ever heard? Personally, I love it.
Now before I get into the food, I want to stress something I feel is important, the restaurant itself, is very small, I estimated at most, maybe 100 seats, maybe alittle more, and though that might sound like a good size, remember, with all the hype this place has, people are coming in groups of 4 to 6 and sometimes more, infact when I went, my mother and I were the only group under 4 people that I counted in the entire place, this means the place fills up fast, and there WILL BE A WAIT, infact, we got to the Tuckway almost an hour before they opened, were allowed inside the building about 30 minutes before they started serving, and we were the forth people on the list to get in, and by the time they started serving, there was a line out the door of people waiting to get seated, meaning people know to get there early if they don't want to wait, and from what i gather, yes, the rumors posted on facebook and twitter of up to three hour waits sometimes are infact true. But they do allow you to call ahead and reserve seating for whatever time you wish, and do their best to get you to your reserved table at the right time, but its truly a case of knowing that the wait if you don't get there early, is truly worth it. I can not stress enough though, even though the wait is well worth it, you really should either get there before they open so you're seated right at opening, or call ahead and get your spot for whatever time you want as quickly as you can, this is infact my one issue I could find with the entire establishment, but I guess thats the burden of success.
Now for the food, though I will admit their menu reads like a mad chef's fever dream of unique creations I'm pretty sure you can't get anywhere else, and their social media is riddled with one day only specials that are just as insane, I have to admit, after trying what we did, I would be abit more adventurous with their menu my next time back, though admittedly as new comers there, we stayed in the shallow end of the pool so to speak. We started out with a buffalo chicken dip and house made cajun style pita chips. What this basically is, in simple terms, is a chicken puree, or, for the more astute among you, chicken humus, though i found myself wishing it had come with some blue cheese to add to it on the side, this was phenomenal, I've never even dreamed that chicken could be made this way, and I really wanted more, the pita chips were great as well, some places add spices or salt them, Tuckaway just leaves them as they are to be enjoyed, I couldn't stop eating this, it was just great, and I can't wait to go back for more.
My mother had their Meatbal Melt, which is their homemade meatballs, served with homemade tomato sauce and provolone cheese between two of the most well toasted s;ices of garlic bread ever! The cheese melted perfectly into the sandwich and the meatballs just disintegrate in your mouth like a good meatball should, it could however have used abit more tomato sauce. It was served with what I must say had to be the freshest coleslaw I think either of us had ever had, I honestly think they made it right before bringing it out to us, it was that fresh and flavorful, not that kind of coleslaw thats still good, but you can tell has been sitting around for awhile, though i must admit, I kind of think that sort of thing would never happen at Tuckaway, I really doubt they'd let their standards get to that point. I had what is called The Whole Tucking Farm, or as some of you might know it, that last picture over this paragraph thats had you drooling as long as you've been reading this, The Whole Tucking Farm is as follows; a 1 pound freshly ground beef burger, with a fried chicken cutlet on top of that, as well as a thick cut slice of smoked bacon, all covered in cheddar cheese and what they call Tuck Sauce, which is sort of a thousand island meets a thin but flavorful vinaigrette style salad dressing. This monster was beyond words, along with the fresh cut fries, this thing will fill you up, but you will still want more, it has to be one of the greatest things i've ever eaten in my life, you get abit of everything in every bite, some beef, some chicken, some bacon, some cheese, the sauce thats just oozing all out of the burger, I really am struggling to find words that fit just how good this burger was, well aside from yelling "go put it in your stomach now!" over and over in a loud booming voice, which I could do, but it might make things abit awkward between us, and nobody wants that, so seriously if you make it out to Tuckaway Tavern, the whole tucking farm is a must try.
There isn't much else to tell about Tuckaway Tavern, the food was beyond amazing, the staff was fast, extremely polite and helpful, and the food came to us in maybe the fastest time I've ever had at a restaurant, this place truly is worth allof the hype its been given, and I strongly suggest making a trip there if you're in the area, and if my review hasn't convinced you, then allow that image of their meat counter in the butchery shop, and the picture of their signature lobster roll to help with that, by the way, though i do not eat seafood, I feel I should point out, on mondays and tuesdays, their gigantic lobster rolls are by one, get one free, just figured you seafood fans would like to know that. Anyway, why ar you still reading this, get in the car and get out to Tuckaway, its well worth the drive, and the wait.
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Chris
