To help ensure my sister brings in her 30s with the appropriate fanfare, tonight she and I dined at Piccolo. Yes, that is a quote from Anthony Bourdain on the home page. And I watched that episode of No Reservations when he dined at Piccolo. It was the kind of dining experience one doesn't get to have often (unless of course, one does ... but I don't.)
The restaurant only seats 36 people at a time, so it is very small and quaint. We happened to get seated at the best table in the house, right in front by the window. In fact, the setting was so intimate I decided not to bring out my phone and snap pictures of my food ... even though I truly desperately wanted to capture the experience. It just felt like it would have taken the magic out of the meal.
We enjoyed a lovely 2008 La Cana Albariño with our meal. There is something about Spanish wines for me right now. They are light enough and pair so well with food. So here's a rundown of my meal:
The first course: Shad roe with Benton's bacon, cucumber, asparagus and miso. I have to admit, I didn't really know what I was ordering ... I was imagining fish eggs ... turns out it may be fish eggs, but it was not the cavier like fish eggs I was expecting! It was very meaty and almost like a meatball ... It was good, I really liked the accompaniment of the bacon and cucumber with the miso sauce. It was a pleasingly simple first course to start the meal.
My second course was the scrambled brown eggs with pickled pigs feet, truffle butter and Parmigiano. In all my research prior to eating at Piccolo, time and time again this was the dish that was applauded. In fact, according to one source, it is the only dish that remains a constant on Chef Flicker's menu. So I had to have it. It did not disappoint. The eggs were fluffy and delicate, and the pigs feet were brilliant with the cheese layered on top.
I followed the splendidness of the egg course with Monterey bay squid and black rice pave with manila clams, "cocktail sausages" and tomatoes. The sausage was a bit hard, but the squid and clams were cooked perfectly. The rice was cooked al dente, which is how I like my rice, but if you are someone who prefers your rice soft ... this would not be the dish for you.
We split the final savory course which was a sweet veal breast with ricotta gnocchi, spring onions, prunes d'Ente and black pepper. This was by far and away my favorite course. The veal was soft, tender, melt-in-your-mouth perfection. I was happy that this was how we ended our main meal. I almost didn't want dessert because I didn't want the taste to leave my mouth.
For dessert, we decided to order two of the three choices and split them. So we went with the warm Calabrian fig and peanut brownie with banana ice cream and the walnut cake with crème fraiche, pear caramel and trail mix. The brownie was a bit try, but the walnut cake was superb. And with a lovely french press coffee to end the meal and cut the sweetness. I couldn't have been happier.
It was a fabulous dinner, a bit heavy on the salt in total ... but as someone who loves salt ... this did not bother me one bit. (Of course, I plan to drink a lot of water tonight because I can only imagine how puffy I'll be in the morning!)
But perhaps the best way to sum up the dinner in all its glory was how it ended as we walked to the car.
As we were departing, a couple that had been dining at the same time as we had were walking on the sidewalk. They turned to look at us and both men smiled. Then the slightly older man in the couple said, "It was a wonderful meal, wasn't it?" And I smile back and said, "Yes, it was magnificent." Only a divine experience could have you musing with strangers post-meal and smiling in the way that this did.
Thank you, Chef Flicker for a lovely meal.
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