New England fare done right at N.H.’s Common Man
The scene: The original Common Man opened in Ashland, N.H., in 1971. Serving upscale comfort food with quality ingredients, creative preparations and a heavy focus on traditional New England specialties and local products, it was way ahead of the current locavore trend, and struck a chord with diners: 46 years later, there are six full-service Common Man restaurants throughout the Granite State. There is also a fast food version and a fast casual sit-down version at the state’s largest welcome center/gas station complex at the intersection of Interstates 93 and 89. There are three 24-hour Common Man diners featuring specialties from the parent eateries alongside classic diner grub, and seven other spinoff restaurants that are part of the group. That’s nearly 20 restaurants, all in one relatively small state, all based on the notion of tasty, hearty and affordable food like grandma used to make — if grandma lived in New England and was a great cook. If you visit New Hampshire you are never far from one. There are even two Common Man Inns that have bed-and-breakfasts attached to restaurants — one with a spa.
The half-dozen Common Man eateries have a pretty standard menu, though daily specials vary, but never stray far from the omnipresent New England theme, with choices like seared salmon, lobster risotto and apple pork tenderloin with pureed squash. All have a classic New Hampshire feel, and the large restaurant in the state capital, Concord, is a perfect example — it feels like a 200-year-old farmhouse, but the vaulted post and beam construction was done in 2000, using reclaimed timber. There are two cozy pubs, multiple dining rooms, huge exposed beams, wooden floors covered with worn oriental rugs, floral draperies over windows, a real fire roaring in a brick fireplace, and lots of wood everywhere. There are hurricane lamps on the tables, bathroom walls are completely covered in handwritten political and historical quotes, and when you are done, the bill is presented tucked into an old book — mine was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Dining at the Common Man reminds you why you took a road trip in the first place.
Reason to visit: Lobster corn chowder, cheese and cracker bar, Nantucket pie, pot roast, chicken pot pie, baked apple dessert
The food: The menu is broad but the food is of high quality across the board, making it hard to choose but harder to go wrong. But the main reason to visit the Common Man is to sample regional New England fare, at which they excel. So I’d skip the great-looking burgers and most pastas and head to the specialties. The No. 1 bestseller is the Nantucket pie, combining shrimp, scallops, haddock and Maine lobster in a cream sauce, baked in an oval casserole under a layer of Ritz cracker crumbs. It’s hearty and simple, but it is delicious and well prepared. The crumb topping is light and laid on late, rather than baked into the dish, so it is not soggy, the scallops are big and whole, the sauce rich.
Other top selling dishes include pot roast, which is perhaps the most quintessentially regional dish, but at many places it’s mushy, stringy or bland. Not here — this is the best pot roast I have ever tasted, and I live in New England. Thick slices of meat are tender, with a nice balance of fat and meat. It is slow-braised with a rich pan gravy and veggies and it is better than I thought the dish could be. The chicken pot pie is another bestseller and another stunner, beautiful to look at and tasty to eat, with a lattice pattern top like cherry pie, strips of crust that are glazed with what appears to be an egg wash that makes it shine, and it is not soggy at all. In similar fashion, the large chunks of veggies inside maintain their crispness. It is everything a pot pie lover could want. It’s this attention to detail that makes everything so good — in the autumnal classic pumpkin ravioli with sage walnut pesto and honey maple butter, it is the sweet butter that elevates the dish and brings the pumpkin alive, sort of a more sophisticated take on sweet potatoes with marshmallows.
Prime rib, a restaurant and regional favorite, is served three ways: thick, thicker, thickest. An unlikely favorite is the apple walnut chicken, a boneless breast stuffed with apples and nuts, and sealed in a panko bread-crumb crust. A vegetarian dish rounds out the most popular items with regulars, bell peppers stuffed with quinoa, wild rice, boursin cheese, mushrooms, zucchini and onions and topped with marinara sauce. Even meat eaters love it, according to our waitress, “People often add a protein because the veggies are so good — chicken is most popular.”
The top app is the signature lobster corn chowder, another New England classic and very well executed. It is thick, but not heavy or floury, with big kernels of corn and even bigger chunks of sweet lobster meat.
I could go through the menu dish by dish like this because there are so many standouts, but there are also a few notable and quirky things about the Common Man. First, the food is all very reasonably priced and portions large, making it a great value. Even the veggie sides and potatoes, included with almost everything, are excellent, and one side in particular, roasted butternut squash with craisins (dried cranberries) really stood out for its simple but inventive mix of tastes and textures. On top of this, everything comes with lots of extras, most interestingly the restaurant’s cheese and cracker bar, a self-serve station featuring crackers, slabs of cheddar cheese, spreadable boursin cheese, and the “C Man Dip,” so popular it is also sold to go in jars, a mix of cottage cheese, horseradish, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and herbs. The fresh bread basket on the table always features house garlic parmesan rolls and a second selection that changes daily, like blueberry sweet bread.
The top dessert choice requires advance ordering but it’s worth the wait: the house special Uncommon Baked Apple, a whole McIntosh fruit slathered in maple syrup, brown sugar and spices, baked until tender and topped with house-made vanilla ice cream. This is an uncommon signature dessert — they tried to take it off the menu because it takes extra time and effort but customers rebelled — but it is perfect, each bite mixing warm and cold, sweet and spiced, just wonderful. Even if you’ve had dessert — all options tempt, including white chocolate bread pudding, toll house pie, salted caramel brownie sundae — all meals also conclude with an extra sweet, as our waitress explained: “the complimentary white chocolate has been a trademark since we opened in in 1971, way before it was a trendy thing to do.”
Pilgrimage-worthy?: Yes if visiting northern New England, perfect executions of regional classics.
Rating: OMG! (Scale: Blah, OK, Mmmm, Yum!, OMG!)
Price: $$ ($ cheap, $$ moderate, $$$ expensive)
Details: There are six full-service Common Man locations, three diners, two fast casual streamlined locations and two Inns throughout New Hampshire; thecman.com
Larry Olmsted has been writing about food and travel for more than 15 years. An avid eater and cook, he has attended cooking classes in Italy, judged a barbecue contest and once dined with Julia Child. Follow him on Twitter, @TravelFoodGuy, and if there's a unique American eatery you think he should visit, send him an email at travel@usatoday.com. Some of the venues reviewed by this column provided complimentary services.