On a recent Saturday night, my wife and I were invited to hear a friend perform at a place called Tom’s Gourmet Marketplace in Northborough, Massacusetts. Our friend, Steve Centorino, is an acoustic guitarist and singer and has performed at a variety of places, but few of the places could be as eclectic as this establishment.

Tom’s Gourmet Marketplace has a little bit of everything. It is part coffee house, part bar, part gourmet food store, and part diner. It has the decor of an old country store, but serves martinis and double espressos. And every Saturday night they have a a live music performer.

The food choices are presented in deli display cabinets, but they have an air of gourmet inspiration to them. For my choice, I chose their “famous” baked fish & chips while my darling wife chose broccoli stuffed chicken. Each meal came with two sides.  We each chose herb encrusted potato fries, while I had coleslaw and “Gorgeous” chose honey glazed carrots.

The baked fish & chips that I chose was very deserving of its self-proclaimed title of “famous”. It was moist and unbelievably favorable. The haddock was light and tasty, and I savored every bite. My wife’s broccoli stuffed chicken can best be described as huge. It was a massive portion of chicken breast that wrapped around broccoli and bread stuffing. Although a little dry, a Bearnaise sauce that came with it helped to add flavor and moisture. We found our sides to be solid, but not overwhelming with the herb-encrusted potato fries to be the most original of our accompanying dishes.

To go with our meal, we had a couple cocktails that were satisfying and economical ($6/each).

For dessert, my darling spouse had a coconut bar that she found to be wonderful and we each had a coffee drink to close out the meal. For a $60 evening, it was fine and well worth the visit. Steve performed a wonderful extended set, and we enjoyed our time at the eclectic establishment known as Tom’s Gourmet Marketplace.