Whenever there’s a new eatery in town, an alarm goes off in the Food Snob office and continues ringing until we go check it out. For the sake of our co-workers’ eardrums, we decided to go hit up the newly opened Tucker’s, in the spot where the Corner View operated for a couple decades.
Tucker’s already had locations in Hooksett and New London, but we had never been to either, so this would be a truly novel Food Snob experience.
The menu (which you can check out at tuckersnh.com) is huge, but not so big that it overwhelms you with mish-mash. We went bright and early last week, so breakfast is what we were after (even though you can get breakfast as long as the place is open, which is until 2 p.m.).
After several minutes of leafing through the menu – which is chock full of healthy, gluten-free options – we opted for the Tucker’s Classic, located under “The Classics” section of the menu. It’s two farm-fresh eggs any style, choice of house potatoes or beans, and toast. Being the insatiable carnivores that we are, we ordered a side of the house corned beef hash. Gotta make that daily meat-consumption quota.
To add a little challenge to the new outfit in town, we ordered the eggs over hard – a style that can easily be overcooked, leaving the yolk truly hard and undesirably crumbly. We also asked for the hash to be cooked well done – we wanted to see how the staff would execute such a request.
It turns out, they did a fantastic job. The eggs and the hash were both cooked perfectly – the eggs were not burnt but the yolks weren’t runny either, and the hash had the perfect amount of crisp.
The potatoes we opted for were also cooked nicely. Not too soft, but not burnt, either.
Everything looked really nice too – presentation can go a long way. But with this meal, the star is the taste.
Most notable was the hash. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill, 75-cent canned variety found at discount warehouses. This stuff tasted like it was just made minutes before being served. It tasted like an actual corned beef meal, which is to say it was very good.
We could have done with a bit more potato in the hash, but that’s really picking a nit. Plus, we had a whole side of potatoes right there, so they weren’t sorely missed.
To wash it down, it was coffee and water – both of which were good, too. Nothing really to write home about here, just standard morning beverages.
If we were in a more adventurous mood, maybe we would have ordered one of the many beverage specialties – Chunky Monkey, Java Chip or Salted Caramel, to name a few – but this trip was all business. We might just have to go back some time to try a fancy drink and maybe some lunch.
All in all, it was an excellent dining experience from start to finish – we were seated immediately, placed an order a minute or two later, and the food came out in less than 10 minutes. Not only was the food good, but the service was outstanding and the staff was very friendly.
The Food Snob approves.
