Delicious and worth the wait for a night out. What a fabulous new addition to the north end, and all tables full (only 13 of them) on a Tuesday evening. This is just a "soft" opening, so you'd better make your reservations now! This place will be hopping after a true grand opening. We had the quintessential waiter, Joel appearing and disappearing as if on cue...friends greeting friends...happy laughter and chatter....fabulous food and wine. It was a great experience and I highly recommend it. I can't wait for the weather to warm up, sitting outside enjoying the neighborhood as well as the food sounds like heaven.
The details: We tried 2 appetizers, one was a warm take on a traditional mozzarella & tomato dish with the addition of basil and roasted garlic to be smeared on crusty bread. But my personal favorite was grilled shrimp on risotto cakes in a bed of basil cream (maybe needing just a touch more flavor to the basil cream sauce?) The risotto cake was perfectly crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, decadent.
For dinner Joel recommended the fresh Alaskan halibut on cheese-filled ravioli in a cherry tomato-caper sauce topped with gremolata and the grilled NY steak with gorgonzola souffle and roasted potatoes--we of course took him up on both. The fresh halibut was cooked perfectly and melted in my mouth and the ravioli were light, flavorful and delicious. I didn't really know what a gremolata was. Joel explained it nicely, but I've forgotten enough to make my own explanation sound dumb. In general it's a light salsa--Wikipedia says it's also the traditional accompaniment to Osso Bucco, so there you are. I had a Pinot Noir by the glass and Mark had an ale--overall nice selection of wines by the bottle...in general only one selection of each major wine category by the glass, but it was fine for me. I love to check out wines and pair them if I have someone helping me along. By myself, I tend to forget all the names of specific wineries and heaven help me if I can remember a specific year!
The steak was served with a gorgonzola "souffle" used as a dipping sauce for both the steak and potatoes. The sauce was the perfect accompaniment to the dish, creamy, great flavor with a beautiful light brown top. It was outstanding. We tried the tiramisu and the berry cobbler for desserts. The tiramisu was the only slight disappointment of the evening--I think it needed to have been removed from the refrigerator sooner, it tasted too chilled--cream not as creamy as I like it and the cake just a bit too cold--which made it seem a little dry. The cobbler was great--a touch of cream on a warm cobbler oozing with berry flavor. Even though we packed some food to go, we'll have to learn to pace ourselves better to be able to taste enough to write about without gaining a LOT of weight! I'm willing to work on that.
Dinner for 2 with all the trimmings (we ordered the 2 most expensive entrees on the menu, drinks and desserts)cost us $106 including the tip...a pretty good deal for food this good. I can see Cafe Vicino's being a staple in the north end for a long time to come.
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