After 18 years at The Liberty Hotel, Scampo remains one of Beacon Hill’s (and the city’s) premier dining destinations, which still comes as a matter of considerable pride to its founding co-owner, Chef Lydia Shire.
“I’m just very proud of Scampo,” said Shire during a recent phone interview. “Most of the staff and the servers have been with the restaurant for 18 years, and I think that says a lot about the place. It means they are proud of the food they are serving, and it means they are being well taken care of – they have a voice here.”
On April 2, 2008, Shire joined restaurateur Patrick Lyons of the Lyons Group, along with Executive Chef Simon Restrepo, to launch Scampo in a sprawling, first-floor space at The Liberty Hotel, which was once the site of the Charles Street Jail.
A Brookline native, Shire attended London’s venerable Cordon Bleu Cooking School in 1971, setting her on a path of success throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, including opening the erstwhile, James Beard Award-winning restaurant, BIBA (i.e. “Back in Boston Again”).
Executive Chef Restrepo arrived in Boston in 1985 as a 16-year-old Colombian immigrant and first met Shire when he took a job as a dishwasher at BIBA in 1989. He soon committed himself to a culinary career as he made his way through the various kitchen stations while remaining by Shire’s side in all her subsequent restaurant ventures.
Scampo was an immediate hit, being named one of Boston’s ‘Best New Restaurants’ in America named by Esquire magazine in 2008, and today, its menu continues to focus on Italian-inspired cuisine, with Mediterranean and Middle East influences. It’s a restaurant where patrons can enjoy a bowl of spaghetti, accompanied by a glass of wine, for under $50, said Shire, or they can instead opt for a more extravagant meal.
“We offer true comfort food – what’s better than a bowl of pasta?” asked Shire, who added that pasta dishes come in two sizes (i.e. appetizer and entrée) to help keep patrons from ordering a larger-than-necessary portion.
For first-time diners, Shire recommends trying either the lamb pizza, or the restaurant’s renowned lobster pizza (although Scampo also offers vegetarian pizza options).
Duck, meanwhile, remains Scampo’s most consistently popular dish.
“Scampo does duck as well as any other restaurant in Boston, and it shows because it’s our biggest seller,” said Shire.
Moreover, the restaurant sources its pork chops exclusively from Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Heritage Food USA, using red wattle hogs, which Shire noted are renowned for their meat’s tenderness, flavor, and fat content.
And since Scampo opened 18 years ago, Maria Posada has made the restaurant’s handmade pasta in house.
“It’s paper thin,” said Shire of Scampo’s pasta. “I’m very proud of that.”
Meanwhile, Giampiero Gaglio, who has also been with Scampo since he began working as a waiter soon after the restaurant opened, curates the carefully selected wine list, with notable recent additions including Nebbiolo from the Prunotto wine company, added Shire.
Scampo is located in The Liberty Hotel at 215 Charles St. Visit scampoboston.com, or call 617-536-2100 for reservations, hours, and more information on the restaurant.