ATMOSPHERE:
Clean, upperscale, and inviting. We walked in and felt welcome right away, sat in a nice (but little!) table for two, promptly received a (half) glass of pretty dam decent house named champaigne. Through the dinner, we were graciously ushered through by what felt like a host of different folks (server, bus staff, a manager here or there, swanky).
FOOD:
Truthfully, I wish I could tell you the names of the main dishes we had - they were slap your momma good... I was enraptured, and like a bad yelper forgot to write down their proper Italian names to share with readers.
Fresh Bread / Tampenade - The one dark spot on the food. While the bread was okay, it didn't seem house made, and either way was flat and tasteless on its own. The tampenade, whatever it was, had zero flavor or purpose, we had to add salt and pepper just to eat the one piece we smeared. Either this needs to be amped up in spades to compare with other dishes or removed entirely - it is a bad first impression.
(Special App) Burrata with grilled plums - this was a fantastically done twist on the traditional caprese, with fresh plums grilled over open flame and a delictible side of burrata to replace the flat mozzarella disks we're all used to. The creamy velvet of burrata and tart plum were over the top good.
Bresaola - Pretty darn good - so good in fact that I didn't know until after that it was absolutely raw, aged forever until its brown from air meat. Aw well, I didn't know it at the time, and it was good enough I can overlook the whole raw thing.
(Special) Risotto with Prime Rib - Let me start with this fact - I am a risotto snob.. I rarely like risotto's in restaurants, they are either way over or way under done, leaving me dissapointed and hungry. This hit the mark in a big way, with a near perfect creamy Parmesan cheese to onion ratio, and rice that was cooked to an awesome al dente. Add to that a well-aged prime rib and reduced drippings drizzled over the top of the dish, and I'm in heaven.
(Special) Escolar with Avocado Salad - Prosecco... POINTS for one of the most awesome fish courses I've ever had in my life. The meat was buttery, tasty, and flavored better than I dreamed a fish dish could ever be. I could have eaten 4 of these dishes and not been sated, it was that good. SHAME ON YOU - after having researched esolar (I wanted more!!!), I learned a fact that Prosecco failed to mention... this particular fish should come with a serious warning - due to the fish's inability to process a waxy substance, its meat causes SEVERE and uncontrollable diaherra in a fairly big population of diners. Think about this people - nice dinner, sexy date, awesome fish, and it all goes to pot in 30 minutes or less... while it did not happen to me (THANK GOD), the server had an absolute responsibility to tell me it could have, and she didn't.
Torta alla ricotta di stagione - Simply put, this cheesecake tasted like the inside of a Fannie Mae Hazelnut buttercream. Yeah - if you like those, don't pass on this, or you'll hate yourself in the morning.
SERVICE:
Other than the faux pas above (no poo for you), the service was upscale all the way. We never sat with an empty glass or plate, every time we finished a drink it was refilled (we ordered a bottle of wine), and plates for every entree or app we completed were whisked away almost immediately. Kudos on the attention, and the ability to make us feel very taken care of.
VALUE:
Decent. It's rare I say this about upperscale dining, as either the service or the food doesn't measure, but this place does both well, and we will be back for more. read more