The good flavor of baked artichokes topped with golden bread crumbs was subtly brought out with a sauce of butter, white wine and lemon. Another simple yet effective dish, the shrimp and broccoli rabe salad, starred eight enormous, perfectly cooked shrimp. The vegetable was no slouch in a supporting role, its bitterness tamed by red and yellow peppers, garlic and red onion. Mahon also offers tripe, not seen very often in these parts, as well as blackened sea scallops over escarole and rock shrimp Arrabiata among the more unusual appetizers. One of those, the chicken a la casa, is bounteous enough for two, filled with large hunks of sausage as well as chicken, cooked with peppers, mushrooms, onions and potatoes.
Balsamic vinegar adds piquancy that gives the dish a special luster.
A simple pan-roasted monkfish served over sauteed escarole and white beans, stood on its own without frills, as effectively as the artichokes had. By far the most expensive dish on the menu is a veal chop. The excellent meat was served on a huge platter with an abundance of crisply browned sliced potatoes, mushrooms, peppers and onions that amplified its taste. There are always several pastas, including five black lobster ravioli with pink vodka sauce and a rigatoni Romano brightened with veal meatballs, mushrooms and mascarpone cheese. Desserts are a combination of items made by Mahon and sweets that come from bakeries.