But to the good stuff first. The place is definitely not your mom and pop Italian place. It's high end without being too snotty. Surprisingly, Aarti and I were able to get seated right away on a Saturday without reservations and were seated at the "chef's table", which is just a fancy way of saying at the bar that's facing the kitchen. The menu had a lot of great sounding classic dishes but since it was just me and Aarti we couldn't really order too much (plus I wasn't really hungry either). We started with the green salad with spicy beets, and then I had the Tagliatelle with saffron seafood ($20) and Aarti got the spaghetti ($16). I was torn between the tagliatelle and the fusilli with pork ragu and goat cheese but I couldn't pass up saffron and seafood together! One of the fun parts of sitting at the bar is that you get to watch the chefs cook. And in a place like this, it totally doesn't gross you out, instead it just fascinates me. You get to watch the whole process of the chefs getting the orders, them yelling to the sous chefs to prep and then the waitstaff wiping the plates down and whisking them out. Initially my first impression of the salad was eh. It had a lot of the darker purplish leaves of lettuce, which I'm not a huge fan of because I usually find them bitter. But this salad was dressed with a great salt and pepper and vinegar combo that I didn't even notice how the lettuce actually tasted. The beets actually weren't spicy but that didn't matter, they did taste just right with the rest of the salad.
On to the pasta, which I was really excited about because as I was watching them make it, it looked super authentic and not like something I could just make at home. But overall I thought the pasta was a bit too al dente and when I looked at the bottom of my bowl there was a huge vat of oil, which was very displeasing. The best part was the seafood in there. Fresh mussels, squid, and calms and there were plenty of them (as well as plenty of garlic cloves!). But I just couldn't really stomach seeing that much oil in my food. We also ordered a side of polenta which is one of my all time favorite sides, but this one was so buttery that even I couldn't really enjoy it. Plus it was too smooth in texture, I usually like a bit of graininess to it. I literally had 2 bites and couldn't eat anymore of it.
The food here really does have potential and my whole experience might have been marred by the terrible day I had, but I the oil and extreme butter were a bit off-putting. However, I am totally willing to give it another go when I'm in a better mood. Total bill $43/pp (with 2 glasses of wine).
Photo Credit: Yelp
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