The summer season is upon us, which means it’s time to change the weekly specials. For this menu, the Chef’s and myself took inspiration from the season around us; using as many local ingredients as we could. We came up with a light and refreshing menu that has something for everyone.

Sticking with the “Meatless Monday” theme, we will be featuring a Black Bean Quinoa Burger on toasted Brioche. The burger is going to have an avocado mayonnaise as well as pickled jalapenos, grilled pineapple and topped with local farm arugula. For someone who doesn’t eat veggie burgers all the time, I really enjoyed this burger. There is a lot going on in this burger, but all the flavors come together with every bite – there is sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami and spicy!

Tuesday we will be featuring a House-smoked Brisket Sandwich (pictured). I couldn’t think of something more typically summer than smoked meat. The sandwich is served warmed on a toasted ciabatta roll with Sandwich Creamery smoked cheddar, Old Brown Dog caramelized onions, house-made pickles and finished with a horseradish cream sauce.

On Wednesday we’ll offer a lighter option for those hot summer days. We will be serving a Mediterranean Chopped Salad topped with chicken salad. The chopped salad is going to have cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, feta cheese, Kalamata olives, pita chips, fresh mint and parsley tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette. The greens being used in the salad will be coming from Meadows Mirth farm in Stratham, New Hampshire. There is also the option to get just the salad if you would prefer it without the chicken salad.

Our special for Thursday will be Pork Milanese, which is pounded and breaded pork cutlets. We will be breading them with asiago cheese and a touch of oregano. Keeping with the lighter fare theme for the summertime, we will be serving the Milanese with a local mixed green salad tossed in a lemon vinaigrette with toasted pine nuts, capers, shaved fennel and Pecorino Romano cheese. Additionally, we will be featuring a fried eggplant with the same breading for those that do not eat pork.

Chimichurri is a lovely Argentinean condiment that they usually use to marinate steaks and chicken before grilling. For the Friday special, we will be marinating some prime steak with chimichurri and grilling it to your liking. It will be served with poblano mashed potatoes, grilled corn on the cob and finished with a grilled tomatillo salsa. The corn we will be using will be from right here on the seacoast (in a few weeks). It’s not quite ready yet, but once it is we will be getting it from the local farmers!

If you’re like me and you grew up in New England, then when you think of summertime, you think of lobsters. There is nothing better than fresh lobster in the summer! Saturdays, we are going to be serving Chilled Lobster & Shrimp Tostadas with chili lime coleslaw, guacamole, pico de gallo, cilantro sour cream and fresh cilantro. The tostadas will be served with some red beans and rice! For those non seafood lovers we will be having black bean tostadas with the chili lime coleslaw, guacamole, pico de gallo, cilantro sour cream, fresh cilantro and house made queso fresco.

Last but not least, Bibimbap on Sundays. In Korean the word means “mixed rice”. Our Bibimbap will be served with curried zucchini, pickled carrots and daikon, mung bean sprouts, kimchi, fried egg, fresh scallions and your choice of BBQ Korean short ribs or ginger grilled tofu. The dish has lots of interesting and different flavors going on; however, they all blend nicely which really brings the dish together.

Overall, the Chefs and I are extremely happy with the way this menu came together. We have plenty of delicious summer specials to choose from. We wanted to showcase our locally sourced foods, especially the greens that we get on a regular basis from Meadows Mirth. I feel like we have achieved that with the Wednesday and Thursday specials. Our motto is “We serve all types” and I feel confident that we have achieved that with this menu. We hope to see you at 56 Market enjoying these wonderful creations! Thank you all for your continued support and patronage! We love cooking for you!

-Chef Jon