I am always pleased when people take my advice on where to eat. It's even more pleasing when they invite me along!
Yes, last night I joined my dear parents on a nice date to my favorite restaurant in the North End...and on Earth. I should mention that. It's my favorite restaurant of all time.
Monday was a surprisingly popular night there! Although we got seated early for our reservation, it quickly filled up! I had been hoping we'd get seated in the basement, which looks like old wine cellar, but we were seated on the newer, enclosed patio. It was really nice out there with the heaters and the view of the people on Prince street. That will make for a nice dining experience in the warmer weather.
Going out for Restaurant week is best in multiples, so you can try everything. And best to go with allies who don't mind you eating off their plates. Iron that out beforehand.
What is special about T's prix fixed menu is that it consisted of 4 courses. Usually you're only presented with 3. Lots of fist pumping from my family. Deciding our menu was a bit of a challenge because we didn't want to overlap, as usual. What I can tell you is, we got one of everything on the menu EXCEPT the App of Proscuitto san Daniele because there were no figs.
***check out this link to see the menu - note, the 3rd course (Secondi) is not listed here. in person the menu has Apps, Primi, Secondi and dessert.***
http://www.restaurantweekboston.com/?neighborhood=north-end&meal=any&page=2
Being good Irish-Italian-Americans, we ordered a nice bottle of wine and proceeded to finish it before the appetizer course. That may be hard to believe for you, but what was hard for me to believe was the size of my appetizer!
The Pepata di Cozze is sauteed mussels in a spicy garlic, tomato and white wine broth. The presentation was a site to behold and I marveled at how gigantic the mussels were. They were definitely not our little Cape Cod mussels! These are mussels on steroids. It was a shame to ruin such a pretty plate, but I demolished that appetizer. The broth was amazing no matter if you soaked it up with bread or just ate it by the spoonful. Yes, I did this.
While my parents looked on in shock, they ate their humble, but delicious Caprese salads, which were served on long white plates with lots of balsamic and oil. The "bufala" mozzarella was homemade and fantastic. I didn't even bother trying a tomato. Pfft.
We soon realized we had to pace ourselves, as there were 2 more dinner courses coming and a dessert. This meal was a marathon, my friends. An Italian, carb-tastic marathon.
The first entree (Primi) that came out was the Raviloi, which were stuffed with radicchio and asiago in a very light grape tomato sauce, garnished with peas, radicchio, Parmesan & cripsy prosciutto. Easily the best dish of the night. I'm not going to draw it out for you. The ravioli were thin and light and the asiago filling was airy, which is nice because ravioli can be so heavy. In the meantime, we were also served the Risotto and the Gnocchi alla Sorrentina, which was your standard dumplings in a tomato basil cheesy sauce. It was fantastic and met every expectation one would have for it. The Risotto, on the other hand, was fighting for top billing over the ravioli. This rice dish had chopped scallop, peas, asparagus and sweet corn in a light Parmesan broth. I couldn't get enough of it. The portion size was perfect and we loved the surprise of corn. Visually, the meal was very eye catching with the greens and yellow. I could have this again right now, actually...
Now onto Secondi, which is not on their Restaurantweek.com menu. Without the menu, I can't give you the exact names, but to sum up...
...to sum up, check back later for the Part II!!!
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