Telly's Restaurant and Pizzeria-Epping NH

For those of you that didn't know, Telly's had a bad fire a few years back and it was destroyed. They rebuilt the restaurant and made it bigger and better this time around. I'm actually really glad they didn't give up. Sometimes, when we get knocked down, we have to pick ourselves up and keep going. This review takes place on last Saturday evening at 5:15pm. Yes, it was early for dinner, but I was out with my parents who often like to beat the crowds out at restaurants on the weekends. This did not happen. Although we were able to slip right into a booth, there was only one other table available, it was a full house on the tables and at the bar. This is a great sign of a restaurant in times like these with the economy being not so hot. They offer reasonably priced menu choices so families are plentiful here on the weekends. Telly's is first and foremost known for their brick oven pizza which I find refreshing and reasonably priced. You can easily share and be full by having a small pizza for two people if you order a side salad too. On this night, I was pleasantly surprised to find Orange Roughy on the Specials menu. I have been keeping an eye out for this fish on menus all over the seacoast lately since I have never tried it, but have heard great things. The Orange Roughy ($17.95) was served topped with a lemon butter cream sauce on a bed of jasmine rice and a side of asparagus. The lemon butter cream sauce was just enough so as to not take away from the fish, but to accompany it. The jasmine rice was perfect for this light white fish and it was prepared in coconut milk with salt, pepper and butter. I am very pleasantly surprised with this talented chef at Telly's and they have me wanting more. I opted for a glass of one of my favorite red wines (that's right, RED with FISH) which was a glass of Black Opal Shiraz ($5.75). The dessert was split between my parents and myself and is a house specialty. It is a HUGE piece of Bread Puddin' ($4.99) that is a delicate, moist croissant concoction laced with cinnamon'd bites of apple and raisins (this is exactly how they describe it, why mess with perfection I say!). If again you found yourself wandering out of the downtown Portsmouth area, take a hop, skip and a jump down 101 and try Telly's. I think you will enjoy it!