Ellen L.
Yelp
**my fancy post-marine corps marathon celebration meal**
my running buddy in the bay area highly recommended this italian restaurant to me. the only downside was that it would be a bit of a trek from where my parents live and we'd likely have to take metro.
i made a reservation at noon, but dad was running late from an appt, so we ended up driving into the city for fear of missing our reservation. in the meantime, i bumped it to 1230. while the drive itself wasn't bad, finding parking was quite the challenge. i bumped it again to 1245 as i circled around, trying to locate a garage with an open spot. what a relief when we finally found a spot to park...but at that hour, i could no longer bump my reservation, so we had to chance, it hoping they would still seat us.
upon arrival at a cute little brownstone, we were greeted with a warm friendly greeting by the hostess who said "you made it" and reassured us that the kitchen was still open and that we were welcome to dine with them. phew!
we were actually the only party on a tuesday, so it was great, we had the staff's complete attention! well, for about 30-45 minutes before another party joined.
for the day's seafood specials, we were brought an entire wooden plank of fresh fish, at least 5 to choose from, which our waiter explained to us in fine detail. it was so hard to choose! but dad chose the dorade and i chose the sea bass. mom chose a gluten free pasta. we ordered a soup and salad appetizer to start.
+bread: the basket came with warm focaccia and sourdough bread, with olive oil and mashed capers to dip into. this was yummy, and i really liked the play on the traditional olive oil.
+fennel salad: i've never had this before, but the fennel was shaved into fine thin swirls so that it appeared like fettucine! the dressing was a mix of lemon and vinegar, and garnished with orange, grapefruit and black olives. amazing blend of fresh veggies! my favourite starter!
+broccoli soup: this was broccoli pureed, garnished with olive oil and bread crumbs, a perfect velvetty smooth soup! should have gotten a second since dad devoured most of it before i could have a taste!
+gluten-free pasta: homemade penne with a mix of wild mushrooms, herbs and olive oil. this was so delicious and the texture was superb, i could not tell this was gluten-free!
+sea bass: i didn't want the potatoes so they gave me extra brussels sprouts, my favourite roasted vegetable! the brussels did not disappoint (i need to learn how to make them so roasted and crispy!) and the fish was delicately grilled, with light olive oil, with a lemon wrapped up in gauze so i could drizzle some tart flavour onto the fish. it was so fresh i could truly taste each bite!
+dorade: did not try, but dad was very happy with his fish, brussels sprouts and chopped potatoes.
besides the superb quality of food, the company was just fantastic. upon learning that i had just ran the marine corps marathon, the hostess let us know that the chef himself was a runner and that runners, especially those in town for the marine corps, all flocked to his restaurant for pre-race carbo-loading or a post-race celebratory meal.
i'm grateful that i had the chance to experience chef luigi's culinary creations and can't wait to come back the next time i'm in town!