Francesca's on Chestnut

On Friday night we had a terrific meal at the new Francesca's on Chestnut. We were fortunate enough to be served a few new items not typically on the menu. One was a large raviolo with fresh spinach and ricotta filling that contained a soft egg yolk. The raviolo was then bathed in a perfectly browned buerre noisette and dusted with parmigiano reggiano. It was almost exactly like the one we had eaten at La Cantinetta in Barolo, Italy last year (picture above), which you can read about in the post Best Meal in Barolo.

Another off-menu treat we were served was a large wedge of a bosc or red pear that had a dollop of mascarpone cheese filling the core which was then wrapped in prosciutto. It was a much better combination than the ubiquitous (and not so well balanced) cantaloupe with prosciutto everyone else serves.

A green olive topped wrapped in ground meats (pork and beef?) which was then lightly breaded and fried was quite tasty. It was a salty nibble quite appropriate for an appetizer when paired with a light sparkling wine. A salad of baby frisee with shaved fennel (finoccio) and candied walnuts rounded out the starters.

The rest of the meal consisted of familiar and delicious Francesca's fare - pork with the creamiest polenta you'll ever find, gemelli with pesto, potatoes and green beans, sauteed tilapia and so on....

It's a great addition to the Francesca's family and priced very reasonably for a near Mag Mile location.

Best Meal in Barolo

A few weeks ago we were in Barolo, Italy and enjoyed a fabulous meal at a restaurant called La Cantinetta. The food was great and the service fun and relaxed. Here are a few photos from that evening.

La Cantinetta on Via Roma 33, Barolo Italy

We ordered the antipasti tasting which happened to be five courses of starters. We expected a lot of local cured meats and pickled veggies - we were very pleasantly surprised that was not the case!

The first course or amuse bouche was a very thin slice of local salami and small blini sized frittata of greens - crispy on the outside yet tender and with great flavor.

We didn't think to photograph the dishes until the next course arrived - a rabbit mousse with caramelized red onions and toasted brioche. OMG! Heavenly, and for those of you squeemish about rabbit just think of it as a chicken with fur. It was amazing - creamy, savory, sweet and crunchy!

The next course was delicious vitello tonnato. Have always shied away from this dish thinking it was too strange a pairing. Well I was wrong. A tender, perfectly roasted slice of veal with a tuna and caper sauce. We had to have seconds, hence the dirty plate in the picture!

That was followed by a famous raviolo filled with verdura (chopped mixed greens), a soft egg yolk and topped with Parmigiano Reggiano and browned butter. Amazing that such simple and pure flavors could be so response provoking. The mmm's and oh my's kept flying out of our mouths as we devoured this delicacy.

To bring it to the next level they offered a crispy asparagus tart with a fonduta sauce. It's hard to describe how perfectly crisp and yet light the pastry shell was on this dish. The cheesy sauce was a perfect smooth and silky accompaniment to the crisp and tender asparagus in the tart.

To amaze one even further a dish of spinach gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce was beyond description. Surely we will never have gnocchi this light and tender without it being at all wet as most gnocchi tend to be. We had braced ourselves for knock your head off gorgonzola flavor only to find that the chef used a slight hand with such a potentially overwhelming cheese.

A dish of the local classic - ravioli al plin - were tasty but woefully inadequate next to that masterpiece of spinach gnocchi. Regardless of the tastier dish on the table, all the ravioli al plin were consumed!

We had no room for dessert and missed what appeared to be a delicious mixed berry tart that we saw them shaping in the pan just as we were arriving.

We can't wait to return to the area in the future and experience another wonderful meal here.