Middle Aged and Living Well

Taking the recommendation from an old friend and the opportunity for celebrating a good friendship, we had dinner here on a Saturday evening.  We showed up early for our 8:30 reservation and we seated slightly before our slotted time.  We thoroughly enjoyed our booth on the outside patio on a great summer evening.

They offered a pre-fix menu which based on other reviews, all four of us were ready to order, but we asked our waiter to point out some of the highlights on the menu.  We quickly changed our minds so all of us could order different items and share tastes.  We started with a charcuterie sample and enjoyed every morsel.  I followed that with a warm salted octopus salad.  The salad was almost a meal by itself as I gobbled everything up.  My main course was a well prepared braised short rib elegantly served directly to my plate from a Staub cocotte.  Covered in a rich wine based gravy with mushrooms, carrots and cipollini onions.  The potion, like the octopus salad was large and delicious.

My dinner partners all ordered different salads and entrees.  The salads included an heirloom tomato (think caprese salad), a beet salad and a roasted tomato soup.  The soup was a great tomato soup, but they should drop the roasted label, as it lacked roasted flavor but it was still outstanding.  Entrees included branzino, lamb and a pork shank.  All were delicious, but even more to my liking, they were impressively plated and presented to the table.  Each plate seemed to be designed for the entree.  Oblong for the fish, large (I mean large) for the lamb, a bowl for my short ribs and different shaped Staub pot for the shank.

So needless to say, we had a great evening.  Great food, wonderful atmosphere and service was timely, friendly and appropriate.  My only regret is that we were full and did not get the opportunity try the desserts.