It's the Holiday Season...
POP! goes the cork of a nicely chilled bottle Veuve Clicquot as Jim,
Joanne, Kara and I toast to the holidays prior to heading out for our
dinner reservation.
We arrive promptly at 7 pm. We enter a small but cozy bar where two
people are enjoying their own pre-holiday libations. The host, who we
believe to be an owner, shows us in to our table. The 12-table dining
area is tight and the decor is honestly, not in good taste. They've
complicated things with noticeably under scale pictures of Italian
landscapes. However, kudos to them for not having gone the route most
Rochester Italian restaurants have gone, with the Trompe l'oeil of a
Mediterranean scene and faux arbor. The architecture of the space, with
its exposed brick walls and tin ceiling is enough to create a relaxing
atmosphere. However, with tonight's dinner company, any shortcomings in
the decor soon fade into the background and disappear.
Our waitress -- young, very casually dressed with several noticeable
tattoos possibly in need of a hair wash -- greeted us at the table and
asked for our beverage order. Although rough around the edges, she was
quite friendly, very knowledgeable about our wine selections and helpful
with dinner recommendations.
Kara orders a bottle of Argillae Sinuoso, a 50/50 Cabernet & Merlot
blend, and the evening is off to a great start and our second toast!
Along with the wine, we share an order of garlic and herbed assorted
olives and a double order of the evening's appetizer special - their
take on the classic carpaccio. Unlike traditional carpaccio, which is
paper-thin raw beef tenderloin, they quickly seared their beef, thinly
sliced it and served it traditionally with capers, Parmesan cheese and
light vinaigrette. Tasty and tender, but I would have preferred the beef
to be sliced thinner than it was, to avoid the ever-present choking
hazard...
Dinners and another bottle of Argillae Sinuoso arrive soon after our
appetizer. Kara orders one of the evening's specials: House-made cheese
ravioli with a lamb ragu. Joanne orders another special of the evening,
pasta cooked in red wine with braised beef. Jim ordered the slow-cooked
pork with polenta and rapini, and I, the linguini with white clam sauce
and a side of rapini.
All of our entrees are served piping hot and as we dig in, not a single
mention of how any of the dishes could be improved upon. Kara's raviolis
are tender and the lamb ragu delicious. Joanne's entree is very
innovative, the pasta itself cooked in red wine, coloring the pasta deep
red. It is delicately sauced so as not to overshadow the main player of
the dish: the wine. The braised beef falls apart at the touch of a fork.
Jim's pork is tender and mounded on the plate along with fried polenta
and the rapini. My clam sauce is light but bold in flavor. On the
recommendation from our waitress, I had ordered a side of rapini to mix
in with the entree and I'm glad I did. It makes a nice addition to the
meal.
In retrospect, the one thing that could have been improved upon would
have been the addition of fresh bread. In lieu of this there were
packaged breadsticks on each of the tables. With the abundance of
bakeries in town and the number of other restaurants in the area, if
they weren't going to make their own bread, at a minimum, they could
have it ordered in. But I digress.
With the dinner plates cleared, the waitress provides us with the
aperitif menu and describes the desserts to us. Kara orders a Di Saronno
and I, curious to try Cynar, order one. Most of the bars I frequented
when I lived in Switzerland had a bottle of Cynar on their shelves. I'd
never tried it, and this was the first place in the US I'd seen it
offered. It is a very bitter aperitif made predominantly of artichokes.
Let me tell you, one is all anyone ever needs. We ordered two of the
most fabulous butterscotch custards any of us ever had. The custards
were cool and served in glasses topped with a warm, hard sauce with
roasted almonds. It was by far one of the best desserts any of us had
tried in a long time.
In the end, what they say on their website is true.
"Uno non può pensare bene, amare bene, dormire bene,
se non ha mangiato bene."
One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one hasn't eaten well.
