It may not seem like it, but I eat stuff that's not brunch nor Asian sometimes. Usually I forget to bring my camera, but not last night! The camera was brought. Oh yeah, it was!
We went to Scarpetta to celebrate Kim's very belated birthday. I'm a huge fan of Scott Conant and have had awesome experiences at both Scarpetta and Convivio. So I was super psyched to eat at Scarpetta again. Eat, we did. Among the 4 of us, we had 4 apps, 4 pastas, 3 entrees, 2 desserts, 2 bottles of wine, 4 aperitifs. We win!
Scarpetta edged out Convivio in my book by a tiny hair of a margin. And really, the main reason it did was because of the awesome bread basket. The basket came with 4 different types of yummy carbs - personal ciabatta, some sort of sour doughy loaf bread, focaccia, and my favorite - a rolled up bread thing stuffed with salami and cheese. What is that thing called anyway? Right now, I'm just calling it the sandwich of love. But there's probably a real name for that. Let me know if you know please! Anyway, so on top of all that love, Scarpetta quadruples it by giving you mascarpone, roasted red pepper relish, and a lemony extra virgin olive oil to eat the bread with.
It took a lot of self restraint to pace myself on the bread basket. So needless to say, I failed. Thank god the appetizers came and distracted me. Everything was delicious, but the table unanimously agreed that the creamy polenta with truffled mushrooms was the best. The mushrooms were cooked in a hearty, earthy reduction (which the earthy truffles melded with). Then you spoon that addicting sauce over the silkiest, creamiest polenta ever. EVER! There wasn't one bit of grit in it. It was so gooood....
The braised beef short ribs over farro risotto was awesome too. The short rib was rich and tender, which offered an interesting texture juxtaposition to the slightly chewy farro risotto.
Yay, soft shell crab season! I love soft shell crab. Scarpetta lightly battered theirs (it was ginormous) and complemented it with a light dressed lemony pea sprout salad. The crab was perfectly fried. Then they, uh, added some foam. I'm not a huge foam person. I don't think it usually offers much to the plate. This one didn't add much but at least it didn't detract.
Last of the apps was a huge plate of fritto mixto. I really love Scarpetta's version. The seafood was barely battered and fried to a light crisp. All the accompanying herbs and lemon slices were also fried, which really enhanced the flavor of the seafood when eaten together. There was no lame cocktail sauce for dunking. This dish didn't need any.
Next up, the pasta course. In order for an Italian place to win my heart, the pastas got to rock. Scarpetta won my heart. All the pastas were al dente and had interesting but slightly familiar flavors. Agnolotti dal plin filled with meat, fonduta, mushrooms, and parmigiano was a plate of yummy dumplings, rich and cheesy. drool...
The mezzalune in capone broth was the table's favorite. It almost had an asian flavor in the light broth. The filling was similar to the agnolotti, but less cheesy.
The farfalle with sweetbread and broccoli rabe was tasty too. If you don't like sweetbread, you should leave this site immediately. Or run and get it right now, I'll forgive you. Sweetbread is either the thymus or pancreas glands. Well cooked sweetbread is sweet and nutty, with a awesome soft and crispy texture - soft and creamy on the inside, crispy on the outside. Scarpetta cooked theirs well.
Our last pasta course was duck and foie gras ravioli with marsala reduction. Enough said, how can duck and foie gras wrapped up in dough be bad? Plus it was drizzled in condensed wine flavor. Yummmm...
On to the piatti course! Pancetta-wrapped veal loin with pea or asparagus puree, I forgot (we were on our second bottle of wine, okay? they haven't updated their menu online. So some courses are based on my meager wine-soaked memory.) This was really delicious. The veal loin tasted very similar to pork chop, how bizarre. But everything worked on this dish, the green puree, the tender meat, the pea shoots.
I almost had a twinge of guilt eating the next plate after the veal - roasted capretto, which is a milk-fed young goat. Yeah, we weren't making friends with PETA today. But it was good. Tender and rich with crunchy chunks of potatoes. Not gamey like lamb, more beefy than anything.
Our last piatti was trout with saffron gnocchi. The fish was perfectly cooked. The meat was tender and flaked off nicely. I guess after so many rich plates, the subtlety of a fish course was harder to appreciate. Cuz our taste buds were drowned in salt and meat juice.
For dessert, we had coconut panna cotta and banana budino with pecan gelato. The panna cotta was super silky and light, too bad the picture was pretty crappy, oops. The banana budino was a dynamo. Budino is a kind of steamed cake, so it's super moist and has a custardy texture. It was light despite the look of it. I could probably have eaten the whole thing.
Banana budino
My second trip to Scarpetta reaffirmed my fandom in both the restaurant and Scott Conant. Le sigh... I shall return...
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3 comments:
yum!!!!! i'm guessing kimbo wanted the frito misto. glad to see chubberblub is alive and well!
haha... yeah, kimbo brought it up and jayme second it! wish you were here!!!
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm so awesome!!! Your pics are almost as good as the food! hehe ;) and yes I am guilty as charged! hehe who can resist deep fried seafood!
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