I just had a really great lunch at La Briciola. Fresh pasta, service was outstanding. I went late at about 2p and it was pretty quiet, but the server/sommelier said that they were packed for lunch. I have been having a really bad day and so I did something rare for me--just asked the poor guy to bring me any pasta and a glass on wine to match and promised that I would be happy with it no matter what. It all looked good, I couldn't decide, and the having to constantly make decisions was one of the things leading to the bad day, so I decided on this was the answer for a relaxing lunch.
My server could have done a "were you thinking of seafood, or meat..." but he did not. He just nodded, brought me some bread (with excellent tapenade), a glass of red wine, and then later, some sort of bolognese with really wide noodles. This main course was later revealed to be "Straccietti al ragú di agnello hand cut pasta~lamb ragú" and it was pretty awesome. The wine was a decent 2010 Irony Cabernet.
I rate restaurant pasta on a 1-10 scale with a 1 being "I could make this better myself with ingredients currently in my very own kitchen at home" and a 10 as "I have none of these ingredients, of this quality, in my kitchen and even if I did I have them, I completely lack and could never obtain the culinary expertise, proper tools, and wherewithal to cook said ingredients to these incredibly delicious specifications."
So basically, in Italian restaurants I am always ordering octopus and squid (and/or ink pasta), rabbit, something with truffles, etc. I cannot remember the last time I ordered a simple ragu (though I have cooked with it, ha, ha!), though I make it at home often, and to get such a nice plate like this was a real treat. A solid 9 owing to the fact that I do not have any lamb in the fridge right now and even if I did, I don't think it would come out in a ragu nearly as well as this did. Plus there is the making, rolling, hand-cutting of noodles and I am just not up for that for a lunch.
Anyway, this was a kinda pricey lunch for me, but well worth it. And I have started new thread because I couldn't find one for Briciola--post was originally destined for topic:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/900725
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