Sitting here at Swan Chocolates sucking on a chipolte truffle and sipping a Peruvian coffee, I’m finally shaking off the chill the last day of April slapped us with. Brrr.Foolishly, I left home w/ just a skimpy cardigan this a.m. But once I hit downtown Nashua I started to feel better. There are so many food options in the Gate City (henceforth known as Gourmet City), I’m about to burst. My first stop was Manhattan on Pearl where young chef Michael Dussault walked me through his new spring menu. Lots of salads, lime-infused saffron sauces and nice looking fruits, more on that later. On a tip from a nearby merchant, I stumbled into seven-month old Unums, a block east. A happy surprise. Like finding the best gift at x-mas in your stocking, this Tuscan-themed restaurant is a culinary jewel. With a soothing waterfall, burnt orange walls and custom-built mahogany stairs, shelves of pasta and wine (not for sale, just for show) I could live here. And it helped (hugely) that owner Steve Williams is handsome, friendly and tan. Dontcha just hate it when you get the snob salute from a restaurant owner? Or worse an attitudinal hostess? I mean, come on this is not an art gallery. Feed me, don’t snub me! He let me take a lunch menu, which Im perusing now. Wood grilled white fish wedge, topped w/ wilted spinach, grilled prosciutto ham, sun dried tomatoes and baked w/ Fontana cheese has my vote. Speaking of lunch, Michael Tim’s 86’d theirs this month. Sign on door mentions the “e” word, economic times killed their lunch trade. Does this bother anyone? I hear Villa Banca’s lunches pretty much rock. And now w/ Unums in the game seems lunch is still worth doing.

Calendar says it’s spring, but the cold, raw rain has me thinking. Not of cocktails and tapas at outdoor cafes, but beer, fish and chips in a warm and cozy pub. When this hankering comes a calling, you can’t do much better than the Peddler’s Daughter in Nashua.When I first discovered their white fish, served steaming hot in a newspaper, and perfectly executed chips several years ago, I thought OK Nashua you’re showing me something here. It was hands down the tastiest Irish combo I’ve had since I visited the Emerald Isle. But what really held this guilty pleasure together was not the crunchy coating, but the homemade ketchup. The tomato-forward, tangy zest of this typically ho-hum sauce introduces itself in a way the bottled brands simply can’t. Fish and chips is one of the few times I succumb to a fried platter (OK, I’m a sucker for calamari too), so when I dig into this delectation it’s the PD all the way. I’ve been to PD2 in Haverhill and the cramped, basement space just doesn’t measure up to our downtown spread. Am I right? I’ll surely return this summer to soak up the exhaust from Main Street at their canalside outdoor deck.