Rossoblu

Conrad left for Philadelphia yesterday morning, and Van and I decided to have ourselves a date night in DTLA.  

Or the Arts District or somewhere adjacent to that.  Rossoblu was his pick of places, and I was glad of it - I’d heard about it for some time, and it had made the LA Times top 101 list in the past.  Better still, as Van informed me, its specialty was Italian food from Bologna.  Hooray!

I’m not an expert on Bologna after all of four nights there in September, but I’m not sure I saw how the menu was especially Bolognese.  Yes, there were recognizably Bologna things - the tortellini en brodo

that Van and I shared was one such dish.  But otherwise, maybe?  No matter.  It was good food.  A cocktail to start

with different wines to follow for me, and then we shared a series of four dishes:  stracciatella with apple, pear, and squash;

the tortellini; a breaded pork chop with prosciutto and Parmesan;

and a marvel of a buttermilk panna cotta.

Verdict:  great food and worth going back.  The service was nice enough but not as attentive as it should have been, but ah well.  A cool space, likely too loud for Conrad.  But yes, I would enjoy it again, given the opportunity, and explore other items on their menu.

splurge dinner (Spiaggia)

It's not for lack of time that I haven't posted about last week's dinner. I'll be honest: I've felt a little ambivalent about the whole meal.

I'll state this now: it was a fine meal in a gorgeous restaurant. Per person, it was also one of the most expensive meals I've ever had (I think only the ten courses with wine pairing at Michael Richard Citronelle beats it). And, sadly, the sticker shock has kind of held me back for the past week. A good meal, and yet I've been curiously embarrassed to have eaten it.

I'll forge onward, though. Conrad and I had a rare date night this month (he has A LOT of travel in March), and that is the important thing. Our friend Bob had given us a couple of gift cards for Spiaggia, and though we'd dined at the more casual Cafe Spiaggia, we'd not yet tried Spiaggia. What made it all the more special was that Bob, who knows so many people in the restaurants around the city, had contacted the host and let him know we were coming. The result? Essentially the best table in the restaurant with a fine view and extra food and wine brought our way.

Enough of this, let's keep this fun.

First off, we got to dress up. Conrad looks so very handsome in his newest suit, shirt, and tie. I think I clean up well enough, too. A cab ride down to the Magnificent Mile on a fine evening - no coats needed. We were shown to a table in the middle of the window looking out toward the lake,
and soon decided on a cocktail each. I think Spiaggia has convinced us that Manhattans are good. Their negroni was quite fine, too. Starting off with cocktails was perhaps an unwise choice given the wine that followed, but in the moment, it was the right thing to do.

An amuse to start with. Of course. Zucchini somehow, I was still a little dazzled at this point. It was fine. I rather liked the bread service.

Neither of us opted for the special tasting menu featuring black truffles. There were some good sounding items on it, truly, but there was plenty on the a la carte menu to entrance us. At the recommendation of our excellent server we enjoyed a bottle of Sfursat (slowly - this was not a wine to guzzle) and the following dishes (forgive the all-caps - I'm copying and pasting the names of the dishes from the restaurant Web site):

Conrad's PROSCIUTTO IBERICO DE BELLOTAS CON RICOTTA FATTO IN CASA (Hand cut acorn finished Iberico ham with housemade ricotta and Soave poached pears).

My UOVO FRITTO CON VERDURE AL FORNO, POLENTA CROCANTE E FONDUTA (Wood roasted winter vegetables and trumpet royale mushrooms with fried Yuppie Hill Farm egg, crispy Spin Rosso polenta and Bagoss de Malga fonduta). This was my favourite of my three courses.

We each had the same second course, a pasta dish not listed on their site but consisting of spaghetti with crab and coconut. I thought the sweetness of the crab and the coconut were amazingly harmonious, and I was really delighted with this dish.

Conrad's TAGLIATA DI MANZO CON CODA DI BUE E CAVOLO (Wood grilled prime strip loin with savoy cabbage wrapped oxtail, creamy buckwheat polenta, winter squash mostarda, fontina and Amarone). Conrad's favourite dish, though he thought the oxtail was guilding the lily some.

My TROTA AL FORNO CON LUMACHE E FUNGHI (Wood roasted Quinault River steelhead trout with abalone mushrooms, basil fed snails, creamy white polenta, fresh herbs and bottarga). This was fine, but oddly unmemorable compared to the previous two courses.

As is our habit, we ordered a dessert to share and a small cheese selection. The dessert came first. Along with more dessert. And wine to pair with it. Conrad and I kind of gave each other an "Uh oh, this could be dangerous" look and dug in. We'd ordered the ricotta mousse with blood orange sorbet (another item that is not on the Web site, sorry, though a similar dessert is up there). The use of blood orange was quite tasty, the mousse made for a blank pallet behind it. We also received a selection of sorbetti and gelatti: mango, lemon-lime, raspberry, chocolate, salted caramel. All were excellent, the citrus one intensely so. Oh, and a dessert amuse, if you will: a date filled with (I think) mascarpone.

And we still had cheese to go. Happily, we'd only ordered three. I can't recall the names of all of them, but there was the La Tur and I believe the Erborinato di Pecora among them. If I have that latter one right, it was our favourite, tasting something like a blue, that tanginess that we appreciated.

We still had a few sips of wine left, though it wasn't as good after the cheese (alas). I gave mine to Conrad in the end and switched to some decaf. Some time about 2.5 or so hours after we arrived, we wandered out to Michigan Avenue and caught a cab home. Full from the dinner, happy with our date.

And yet the price. The price. Ah well. It's done and paid for and that's that. A splurge. A big splurge. One I hope to repeat because it all was so good. One I'm not sure I want to repeat again.

Sportello

Snow falling lightly out here at Logan Airport. I'm hopeful that won't mean that my flight will be delayed. As good a time as it's been in Boston (productive meetings, good meals, seeing people I love seeing but seldom get a chance to), I am ready to come home.

A short post about a meal before I board the plane. The last dinner in Boston was at an upscale yet minimalist Italian diner called Sportello. Todd suggested it, and I thought it a brilliant idea. A short walk from the hotel. A lauded chef. Sure!

The only bad thing for me, alas, was that after such a huge and rich dinner at L'Espalier, I wasn't all that hungry. A pity, the menu had much to offer. In the end, we both settled on the same simple dish of seared dayboat scallops with eggplant, cubanelle peppers, and Maine shrimp. I thought it was altogether delicious, and I noted that TK ate it up just fine, too.

The cookie plate (not pictured) didn't blow me away, but I will give props (does anyone say that anymore?) to the triangle of lavender shortbread. That one I thought was fine. Still, I was satisfied with just the one dish and a glass of white wine. A simpler meal to end the conference, and it pretty much (cookies aside) hit the spot.

new new Vancouver Yoshi's

Wasn't it just a few short months back when Conrad and I stumbled upon a restaurant we wanted to make our Vancouver Yoshi's? And then what happened? After five years of business, they closed.

Merde.

Less than a month ago, a new option opened even closer. Formerly the space that a kind of funky hole-in-the-wall Portuguese restaurant called Adega had occupied, it's now a minimalist Italian place called Campagnolo. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner. Or so Conrad and I hope.

We actually first ate there, with Marie, the night we arrived before setting up the tree. That intrigued us enough for me and Conrad to have a date there tonight. It's only a few doors down, after all, so why not.

At 6:45 we walked in (no reservations save for big groups) and got a nice table against the north wall. The place was pretty busy - an encouraging sign. We immediately ordered the marinated olives and spiced hazelnuts, and had a glass each of a Prosecco to go alongside.

Conrad and I decided to juggle some small courses, then share a pizza. Smart idea. I just wish they'd all photographed well. In order of how much I liked them (I liked them all), starting with the best:

Coppa di Testa (head cheese, served with pickled eggplant).

Octopus salad with roasted peppers, cucumber, and lemon.

Seared albacore tuna with salt-roasted onions, treviso, and chives.

Pate di Campagna.

Again, all were good. We sipped through a half liter of a Ricossa Barbaresco then moved on to a half liter of Forte Canto Primitivo to sip during and after the Margherita Pizza (flordilatte cheese, basil, tomato). Wow. We haven't had a pizza in ages, but heck, it's vacation. Screw the carbs! Also fun: the side dish of seasonings to add as desired.

No, it really was very good, and there are several things we still want to try on the menu. Not a big menu, but some good things, and we like the room and the wine list. Sarah, our waitress, gave us excellent advice, we thought.

So please please please, Campagnolo, stay open for many months and years to come, and stay good. We are ever so glad for a place like that in our little neck of the woods.