Italian Delight

It's not every night that I am able to eat at a 2011 James Beard Award-winning restaurant. However, tonight was one of those nights I did. It was my monthly gathering of the wine club and our treasure was Bar La Grassa. You can click on the website to see the number of acclaims and awards the place has received. I will say, it can be scary to get to eat at a place that has received the accolades that BLG has received. If you build your hopes up, it may just end up in serious disappointment.

However, BLG did not disappoint. Of course, one may question how someone who is fasting and abstaining from grains and sugar for three weeks did eating at an Italian restaurant ... and looking at a menu that lists a dozen delicious sounding bruschettas and so many pasta options that your mouth waters ... it wasn't easy. But that was part of the excitement. While my friends had a delightful red onion and goat cheese bruschetta ... I dined on grilled radicchio and pancetta with garlic dressing:

 
I never thought I would describe a normally leafy vegetable as meaty, but that is exactly how it tasted (and let's just say the pancetta elevated it to a new level.
 
For dinner, while my pals dined on lovely plates of pasta and gnocchi. I savored the most beautiful piece of halibut with ramps, leeks and mushrooms. It was the kind of meal that just melted in your mouth. Spritzing it with lemon was like the final blessing to a piece of perfection on my plate. The flavors blended together lovingly and I could tell that the preparation of my fish was done by someone who cared about what they were sending out to the table.
 

I ended my meal with a delightful little cheese plate (I forgot to take a picture ... I was clearly in divinity-land by this point.) But it was a nice ending to a culinary experience that I could get used to. And apparently the caramel crepe was said to be the best dessert one of my world-traveling pas has ever experienced ... so something I'll have to keep in mind when I reintroduce flour/sugar into my diet into moderation.

With my meal, I decided to go as authentic with the wine as I could. I didn't capture the vineyard, but the wine was a Saovo. It was crisp and delightful, like a Sauvignon Blanc.

When it is all said and done, BLG definitely earns its reputation and I am sitting her with a smile on my face as I remember my meal.