New Faro restaurant ready for introductions

LACONIA — Faro Express, the fast-casual sister restaurant of Faro Italian Grille, opened in December and kept a low profile over the winter, building a base of regular customers as the kitchen staff tweaked their recipes. Now that spring is here, the Union Avenue eatery is eager to meet more customers, and the Taste of the Lakes Region is the perfect opportunity.

The 29th annual Taste of the Lakes Region, a showcase of the area’s best food and beverage creators, will take place on Sunday, March 31, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at Church Landing in Meredith.

The event is put on by Altrusa International of Laconia, a service club that uses the proceeds to promote literacy in the region and to give scholarships to local students. The Taste will be attended this year by 20 vendors, who will offer ticket-holders a sample or two of their product. For Faro Express, the Taste of the Lakes Region will be the chance to introduce their food to as many as 300 diners.

“We want to get the word out,” said Barbara Flood, manager at Faro Express.

“We do things a little differently than Faro Italian Grille,” said Nick Birchfield, head chef.

While Faro Italian Grille, located at The Weirs, is a full-service restaurant and bar, Faro Express (https://tinyurl.com/y5xnoqed) applies the same Italian palate to the fast-casual restaurant concept, where patrons place their order directly with the chefs from a streamlined menu, pay for their meal at a cash register, then take their food to a table. There’s no expectation of a tip, and because of a much lower overhead for the business, prices are lower. The menu is built around foods that can be prepared to order within a few minutes — just a minute or two longer than it takes to get a burger at a fast-food chain.

But at Faro Express, just as at Faro Italian Grille, none of the food comes pre-made or from the freezer. Sauces, meatballs —even sausages — are made in-house.

Birchfield, who received his culinary training in the school of the real world, learned Faro’s recipes while working for nine years under John Hall, head chef at Faro Italian Grille. His education actually began many years prior, growing up in West Virginia and learning at the elbows of his mother and grandmother.

“I was taught the old-school way,” he said.

At Faro Express, the flavors of Faro Italian Grille are offered in a menu that allows the kitchen staff to cook them, start to finish, inside of five minutes. Favorites so far are chicken parmesan, build-your-own pastas, and their pasta dishes, and shrimp sorrento. Birchfield said he will be bringing their signature sandwich, the muffaletta, to the Taste.

A muffaletta, developed in New Orleans by Italian immigrants, features a combination of Italian cured meats, swiss and provolone cheese, and a marinated olive salad, served on a braided sesame roll. It’s usually served cold, but they’ve found that, in Laconia, customers prefer them toasted.

It’s in the soups that Birchfield’s old-school, slow-cooking roots shine. When they opened Faro Express, their soups rotated through conventional talian recipes but they weren’t selling, he said, so he started offering soups with flavors within the Italian palate but of his own conception.

A creamy vegetable soup has been a big hit, and for the Taste, he’s going to serve a pesto chicken soup, brightened with sun-dried tomatoes and thickened with white beans.

To sample Birchfield’s soup and the muffaletta, and the offerings of the 19 other vendors, you’ll need to have a ticket, available for $30 each in Laconia at Hector’s Fine Food and Spirits, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and Northway Bank; in Meredith at Hart’s Turkey Farm Restaurant; and online at www.altrusalaconia.org. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door.