Scalini Fedeli (NYC)

A quick trip to NYC to visit some friends/my sister led me to Tribeca's Scalini Fedeli. What a delightful experience! Scalini features two options: the prix fixe menu where you select a primi, secondi, and dolce plates or the tasting menu. Tom & I opted for the prix fixe menu and it was definitely enough food.

The restaurant itself is beautiful, albeit a bit stuck in the 1980s. Beautiful green velvet covered chairs, pink roses with baby's breath at every table, waiters in tuxedos, wine bottles cramp the windowsill, classical music. Very Old School. Think the Soprano's Vesuvio's. The waiters were definitely from Italy and extremely charming.

The food was gorgeous and delightful.

The waiters first served a cute amuse bouche-- a porcini ravioli with a truffle foam. Fresh and as a sucker for truffles, delicious!

I started with the butternut agnolotti. It was served with a warm sage butter sauce, top

ped with amaretti & buffalo mozzarella. The mozzarella definitely elevated the agnolotti. Sage butter sauce has been done-- but the cheese brought it over the top. And it still tasted and felt light. Tom started with the restaurant's take on spaghetti arrabiata. It was served with mushrooms, black olives, and minced Spanish anchovy in a spicy tomato sauce. I thought it was a bit too heavy on the olives (but I don't like olives); Tom loved it.

Next I absolutely devoured the slow roasted duck breast and leg confit, smothered in black truffle sauce, gently set on a warm corn risotto. In the words of the venerable Gail Simmons, "Yum!" I thought the duck breast was delicious but the leg confit was out of this world-- absolutely the most tender duck I have ever had. Tom opted for the veal chop with orange and fennel dusted sweetbreads in a porcini-Dijon and green peppercorn sauce. The veal chop was crazy huge. I'd never seen veal prepared that way. The sauce was interesting. I didn't care for the sauce as it tasted kind of horseradishy and overpowering. But again, Tom loved it.

On to desserts. Another amuse bouche! The waiter served me a roasted pineapple with sorbet and Tom received a strawberry sauce with mascarpone sorbet. Both were bright and absolutely delicious. At this point I cannot eat another bite but the waiter insists on bringing dessert. Who can argue? I opt for an apple tart with caramel ice cream; Tom had a trio of gelato (which the waiter mercilessly mocked given the other fabulous options). Every bite was stupendous. I couldn't fit in the last bite (a pistachio biscotti) but it looked excellent.

The service was tremendous. The waiter was delightful and recommended some truly excellent wines. My favorite was a new one for me-- an amarone wine. I definitely got chocolate and vanilla on the nose. And it tasted like chocolate too. The waiter explained we should have gotten mocha so I was close! He explained how winemakers craft amarone--very interesting, they dry out the grapes until they are of a raisin consistency. Amarone has one of the highest alcohol content of all wines (15%). And he even gave us each a complimentary glass of moscat for dessert. I wanted to be his friend. He was awesome.

5 of 5 spoons plus a bronze spoon! A word on rating: the restaurant absolutely deserved five spoons. But it wasn't as good as Next and it was certainly better than Ardeo. So for every restaurant that reaches five spoons, I may also add a bronze, silver, or gold spoon (like Michelin stars).

Relatively expensive ($$$).

Ripple (DC)

I have absolutely no idea why this place is so popular, especially because Ardeo is only doors down and does what Ripple does except much much better.

The service at Ripple might be the worst I've seen at the nice restaurants in DC. We waited 5 minutes to get seated at the bar, 10 minutes to get the bartender to give us menus, another 10 minutes for the bartender to take our order, and 15 minutes to get the drinks. At some point another bartender came over to see if we had been helped and when we said that supposedly the bartender was making our drinks he gave us a completely condescending look and told us that the bar had gotten busy very fast. No apology. Our table is ready after 45 minutes and the hostess told us it would be easier if we closed out our tab. So we try. First we ask the hostess. She can't close out our tab-- only the bartender can. Um, ok. Another half an hour later (not exaggerating) we finally are able to close out our tab despite expressing such a desire thrice times.

At this point I am starving and so very ready to go to Ardeo instead of wasting my time here. But we stick it out. The hostess was nice enough and kept thanking us for being patient. Our waitress too was very nice. But honestly the food did not blow me away. I started with the farm egg and tomato consume. It was OK. It tasted like spicy chorizo. If you like chorizo you would love this dish. My boyfriend ordered the popcorn soup. It looked like vomit. I had to close my eyes when I tasted it. Like the consume, it was just ok- flavor wise. For entrees I had the steak (which was waaay too chewy) and my boyfriend had the angoletti which was tiny sized and a bit too olivey for my tastes.

The cheeses and the drinks were very good. Between us we sampled three wines and three cocktails. All were on par with a place like Gibson's. But ultimately I could not get over how unapologetically bad the service was. At first I thought it was just under staffed but I came to realize that the problem was that not enough people were trained to be bartenders. Three people managing as hostess were not needed-- instead they needed more bartenders.

Ultimately, this place really sucked but could get better with a new manager.

2 of 5 spoons!

Moderately expensive ($$$).

Ardeo (DC)

In the heart of Cleveland Park lies Ardeo—perhaps D.C.’s best kept secret. Ardeo use to be two establishments—Bardeo, a wine bar and Ardeo, the restaurant. Now only Ardeo remains.

Simply put, Ardeo is my favorite D.C. restaurant. In fact, it may be my favorite restaurant, period. The service is sublime. The food never disappoints. I’ve dined at Ardeo perhaps a dozen times – every Sunday after mass. Last week I visited my parents in Rhode Island and Tom and I drove back to D.C. for nine hours straight in order to visit our favorite place. Ardeo is that good.

I’ve sampled too much Ardeo food to write about it all but standouts include the foie gras, the pork cacciatore, the chilled corn soup, the tuna tartare, and the crispy brussel sprouts. The foie gras is creamy, served with a side of Brioche toast and fig mustard. The cacciatore is filling and comes with a crispy bacon top. The chilled corn soup is bowl licking worthy. The tuna tartare is served with grilled watermelon and pistachio nuts. The crispy sprouts rival Rasika’s famous flash fried spinach. The desserts here are divine—the pecan pie with Bourbon ice cream is a must.

The service is absolutely perfect. Last week they sat us at 930 even though the kitchen closed at 10. The manager asked if we wouldn’t mind closing out our check at 10 and gave us a complimentary drink and a dessert sampler. We thought the sampler would include small bites. The sampler consisted of four FULL desserts. Like I said, the service is impeachable.

I describe Ardeo as D.C.’s best kept secret only because it’s never that crowded. We’ve never had a reservation and we’ve always been accommodated right away. It’s a beautiful place too—candles everywhere and you eat under arches filled with wine bottles. It feels romantic and homey at the same time.

The only thing Tom and I weren’t wild about was the brunch here but even the brunch is better than most.

5 of 5 spoons!

Moderately expensive ($$$).

Angelo's (Providence, RI)

In the middle of the Italian section of Providence, Rhode Island is a gem of a place called Angelo's. Eating at Angelo's is like eating in Nonna's kitchen. Granted, I don't have an Italian grandma but if I did this is how I imagine it would be like. The menu includes tripe and braciola.

There isn't much by way of atmosphere. This is a no frills kind of place-- booths,

no tablecloths, no candles, no water glasses, noisy, family oriented. A toy train on a track attached to the ceiling hums above your head. The walls are covered in family pictures-- weddings from the old county, smiling grandchildren from America. It's comfortable at Angelo's and it's cash only.

The food is delicious, for the most part. The salad and bread is nothing to write home about but the entrees shine. I opted for the chicken parmigiana with a side of freshly made linguine. The chicken portion was huge (I took home leftovers which is a rarity!). The sauce (Angelo's house sauce) turned out to be a very lovely marinara-- very flavorful. I wish there had been more cheese on it but I tend to like an insane amount of mozzarella. The pasta was very fresh-- but perhaps cooked slightly took long-- it was a bit limp, not al dente. My mother had the lasagna-- she said it was a bit mushy but that the noodles were nice and light.

Inexpensive ($$) and definitely worth a second visit. Remember to bring cash!

Three of five spoons!

Dewolf Tavern (Bristol, RI)

Now that the bar exam is over, I hope to be eating & blogging more often!

Last night my parents and I went to Dewolf Tavern. The servers were super friendly, joking with us the moment we stepped in. I loved the attic-rustic-nautical feel. Granite-stone walls and exposed beams, with a view of the harbor. The drink menu featured three different Belgian beers. I'm obsessed with Belgians so already I felt good about this restaurant.

The menu was a bit weird- the restaurant couldn't quite decide what it wanted to be. There was a distinctive British/Indian feel to some of the dishes but others were simply American.

Appetizers:

My dad & shared the lobster popover. I thought it was delicious-- it was absolutely smothered in this mild creamy tomato sauce-- sort of a tomato vodka sauce. The popover itself was a bit soggy but I didn't mind.

Entrees:

I had the Charcoal Tandoor Roasted Natural Chicken. This dark honey-tomato sweet-spice sauce surrounded the chicken. I really liked the sauce- I wish there had been more of it! It was almost like a very very very mild curry sauce. The chicken was a bit dry and smothered in cheese. I wouldn't have minded cheddar cheese which is what the menu claimed. Unless my taste buds were way off, I swear it was covered in swiss cheese, which I'm not a big fan of. The thing I liked most about the dish? The side of Brussel sprout/corn bread hash. Yum! I'm not usually into Brussel sprouts but the corn bread really cut down on the bitter taste of the sprouts. I could have eaten an entire plate.

My dad had the fish stew. I didn't have a bite but he seemed pleased. My mom had the filet mignon with mashed potatoes. I wasn't too impressed with the bite I tried but then again she ordered it medium to medium well. Who ruins a perfectly good piece of meat like that!? I swear growing up I thought I hated red meat but I'm pretty sure it's because my parents insisted on cooking it until it was grey. My mom hates the blood- I call it "meat juice." I don't need it to moo at me, but in my humble opinion anything less than medium rare is a crime against meat. I recently read a study that eating well done meat DOUBLES your risk of bladder cancer. Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

Drinks:

This was probably the most disappointing part. They didn't have the beer my dad asked for and my cocktail was pretty terrible. On the waitress's recommendation I opted for the coconut cocktail. The rim was pretty fun-- sugary coconut pieces (but I bit messy to drink). The cocktail itself was way too strong. It was so strong it tasted like soap. Honestly, I fixated on the soapy taste. All I can really say about it is that it tasted like when your parents washed out your mouth with soap.

All in all:

Some hit or miss dishes. I'd probably go back for lunch because they seemed to have some interesting sandwiches on Naan bread. I'd definitely go back for the Brussel sprout/corn bread hash.

Price: $$-$$$

Spoons rating: 3.5 of 5!