It was a pleasure to dine at the Casola Dining Room. It's a lovely room with great ambiance with hope in the air. The students are friendly and make more of an effort than some of those who are toiling away in some area restaurants. Having been a student (many moons ago) in the same culinary classes at SCCC, it was wonderful to try their offerings.
Tonights menu selections of appetizers, entrees and desserts were from Provence. It started with a choice of Vegetable Soup with Pistou (basil and garlic like pesto without pine nuts), Nicoise Salad or a Provencal Vegetable Tart. I chose the Vegetable Tart. I will tell you that the tart filling of diced vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini and onions) only complimented the delicious flaky and light tart. Kudos! I selected for dinner the trio of lamb chops which also had a medley of diced vegetables. (Other selections available were the Chicken Provencale, Bouillabaisse, and Grilled Ratatouille with Israeli Cous Cous.) Being a fan of both lamb and seafood, the decision of what to have for dinner was difficult. I went with the landlubbers lamb. It was delicious, a wonderful dark pink (not totally rare and cold, but lovely warm and juicy) and tasty chops.
Last but not least were 3 choices of desserts: Petite Four Assortment with Raspberry Sorbet, Chocolate Pot de Creme and a Pear Almond Tart.
Again, difficult to decide but when with the Chocolate Pot de Creme. Very delicious smooth dark chocolate topped with whipped cream and a lovely decorative chocolate swirl with a small spoon shaped cookie!
All in all, a wonderful meal from the future chefs in the industry. My only comment would be the students could have a little more tutoring on proper pronunciations and ingredients of dishes being served. read more