The old setup remains, with the kitchen building separate from the restaurant/bar.

What dominated the experience inside was noise; at least on a weekend evening, the atmosphere was boisterous, with loud conversation bouncing off the ceiling and wood floor. Probably not ideal, taking in the decor and intimate surroundings that glowed with soft light.

The menu was not complicated, offering a number of items any fan of Italian food would find scrumptious. Salads looked fresh, and their special mushroom soup was deliciously satisfying.

An entrée of eggplant was served, as with many dinners, with a side of cabbage and mashed potatoes. The tomato sauce was good, and definitely looked and tasted homemade.

Service wasn’t quick, but this was a busy night. A few things I think could be improved:

• noise level - in a winter season, you want to maximize the number of tables inside, I get that; but something should be done to combat the noise level in a small intimate space like this (baffling on the ceiling, or rugs);
• bread service - every Italian restaurant ought to encourage communing with bread to start the meal. When guests can nosh on bread during service delays, all is well. Sitting at an empty table with an exhausted drink, not so much.
• go gourmet - the beautiful building and surroundings seem slightly mismatched to the level of cuisine. What we ate was delicious, but lacked real gourmet polish. The sophistication level has a ceiling to expand here.

My recommendation at this point is to seek-out Portico when you’re close by, and perhaps on a weeknight. This is a great spot for locals to enjoy an aesthetic food experience in a quasi-magical setting.

You start the process by cooking bacon in water to render the fat, for almost 30 minutes, until it is fully cooked. Once removed, you cook almost equal parts of leek and onion for about 7 minutes over moderate heat, add garlic, and then add a can of Italian tomatoes.

This “sauce” gets half-puréed in the food processor, then you return the chopped and chunky mixture to heat, adding back the bacon, cooking for up to 45 minutes to reduce.

Keller says this is killer over asparagus that’s been steamed in stock. He also mentions that it’s great as a topping for fish, so I combined the two.

Halibut, pan seared in butter with tarragon, is plated on top of a helping of this delicious sauce.

The sauce was delectable, both sweet, sour, and smokey. The richness of the fish was well-matched with this sauce.

In this case, I took a nod from Ina Garten with her recipe for meatballs that combine prosciutto, turkey, and Italian sausage, but made these more my own this time around.

The flavor profile I created was not the same as her recipe from the “How Easy is That?” cookbook, but it’s still worthy enough to mention.

• ground turkey (ratio 4:7)
• ground beef (ratio 1:7)
• mixture of sweet and spicy Italian sausage (2:7)
• bunch of Italian parsley, chopped
• fresh rosemary, chopped
• ciabatta bread, chopped
• 2 eggs
• EVOO
• dried oregano
• grated parmesan cheese
• tomato paste
• left-over crème fraiche (I would use more of another cheese if I had it, this is what I had, which helped with the egg to bind the meatballs)

The beauty of this recipe is that the meatballs get cooked in the oven on parchment paper (35 minutes at 400 degrees, test for doneness).

Throw these guys into a sauce, throw-on more cheese, and you’ve got a delicious bowl.

It’s been some years since I’ve been back to Edo’s Squid, located on Harrison Street in Richmond. The first time was soon after it opened, and the line extended outside, all the way up the stairs. That long wait tainted my memory. I remembered a good red sauce and impersonal service.

Most recently, we called ahead for a table, and the wait was minimal. Service was slow as their restaurant was extremely busy, but each server was friendly and accommodating. I am so glad I came.

We each started with appetizers which included fried calamari, caponata, red peppers and mozzarella. The loud nature of this place added to its charm and the rustic authenticity of the food. Presentation wasn’t key here, it was flavor. Things here burst forth with flavor. Delicious.

I ordered off the wall menu (the paper menu features their pastas and standard starters). Braised veal short ribs in a wine and tomato sauce with mushroom vegetables. and the invitation to dip great italian bread. Scrumptious. Truly delicious, and a well-done dish.

Friends ordered things like another special, fried quails with beans and the most fabulous garlic-fried polenta cake. It was outstanding, this polenta cake.

They also did well by their simple but flavorful presentation of seafood. Here’s the seabass, kissed with lemon, herbs, and red pepper.

We’d eaten so well, I couldn’t let the good times stop. There was a constant influx of new customers coming off those stairs and looking around to see which table might next be theirs. But they’d have to wait for the tony spot we had next to a window. With only three desserts on the menu, I couldn’t resist their offering of tiramisu.

It was well done, properly “soaked” and a celebratory end to one of the better meals I’ve had in Richmond, VA. Bravo!

I used bread from The Fresh Market, specifically, a narrow baguette, which seemed ideal for a sandwich. This is their so-called “French Baguette,” and not the larger sourdough one. Since it was a day old, I performed the Ina Garten baguette trick, whereby I moisten the exterior of the loaf in water, and place it in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. It comes out warm of course, and some how magically “refreshed” from a light steaming.

Split the baguette into two halves. The size of this one negates the removal of any interior bread.

• pesto (with basil)
• balsamic vinegar
• sopressata
• fresh mozzarella
• roasted red pepper
• salt

One side of the bread gets the pesto and salt, the other gets the vinegar dressing. Layer the ingredients, cut each portion into two halves. Serve with chips.

Simple, yet delicious.

We all have leftovers in the refrigerator, and what do we do with them? What do you do with those extra slices of salami? Or left over chicken? Or those extra olives you have left over?

As it turns out, so many things I find are too little to serve as a meal, but you still hate to toss them. That’s why, at this busy time, I came up with an idea: let’s throw some stuff on a pizza.

It was Christmas Eve, and we’d been busy. We were hungry, but we were sick of recipes, sauces, and complicated cooking. Now, before I start, you might want to gather some key ingredients/tools to make pizza at home. I think these are important.

1. Pizza stone. This is a great thing to use in your oven almost all the time. It helps regulate temperature and gives you really nice crusts. You put your pies right on this ceramic surface. I use a square one that takes up the entire bottom grate of my oven, and I leave it in there all the time. I simply pre-heat my oven longer with it in there so it comes up to temperature.
2. Pizza Paddle. If you have a stone, spring for a wood or steel paddle. This is the device you use to slip your pie off and onto your stone.
3. Pizza pan If you don’t want the stone, get a dedicated pizza pan, that’s metal. It’s nice for helping you form a round pie.
4. Pizza dough. This is not hard to make, but when you’re in a hurry, I’ve found two local purveyors that do a good job. For just 99 cents, Trader Joe’s offers a bag of dough. It makes one medium pizza. For around $3 or so, Whole Foods market sells a heftier block of dough, and the one I used for the recipe I’m going to describe included 7 grains or something.

The important part about dough and making it yourself - find a recipe you like - and keep making it… commit it to memory. It just requires advanced thinking on your part.

So, since I had some dough from Whole Foods, I left it out of the icebox for about 2 hours… and then lightly floured a board, and formed it. Don’t over-mix these bought-doughs… they’re pretty much ready to go. You can use a rolling pin, but most are pliable enough you can just use your clean hands.

I added my own basic tomato sauce with lots of garlic to the bottom. I used pine nuts, 2-3 kinds of left over cheeses (among them tallegio - yum), pine nuts, and olives. I also used some slices of peppered salami.

This is the key - add what you want. Since pizza should be baked like this at 500+ degrees in your oven, nothing is in there for too long. Use pre-cooked meats (chicken, sausage), and if you’re using veggies, make sure they aren’t watery. And see what flavor combinations you can come up with. I might make this a regular thing for 2011… weekly leftover pizzas.

The sandwich, of course, won.

They have great sandwiches with all kinds of toppings, however their imported prosciutto “Original Italian Hero” sandwich is a favorite because of its simplicity.

First, they take Parman ham, shaved thin, and pile it on loosely. There’s a little dressed roasted red pepper, and a hunk of mozzarella. But that’s it… I guild it with a little salt, and I sometimes I wish I carried a stealth bottle of EVOO with me, but… their roll is fantastic. The whole thing is about letting that delicious ham sing, and it does so beautifully.

As good as ever, something simple yet ultimately profound. (They also carry a new flavor of “Dirty” chips which were superb, called “Funky.”)

It’s a simple, yet tasty pasta:

• pancetta
• garlic
• pepper, red pepper flakes
• parmesan or romano cheese, grated
• salted pasta water

That’s it! I added parsley because I had it.

I’m going to share a few secrets about risotto with readers—these aren’t Italian grandma-style secrets (as I don’t have, nor I have learned to cook this from an Italian grandmother)—but my own. “What makes you an authority on risotti, Mr. Messy?” Well… I can’t say I’m an authority, but I have received many accolades for my risotti, with many a person to tell me “this risotto isn’t as good as yours,” when we’re out to eat.

Of course, who in a restaurant can give this dish so much love as when I’m cooking for two?

The recipes aren’t really that important. In tonight’s example, I used yellow and red pepper, crimini and shiitake mushrooms. Red onion. Celery and carrot. Garlic. But use what you have on hand.

You will need, no matter what:

• onion
• two or more kinds of mushrooms
• garlic
• something red (tomato, or tomato paste; red pepper, etc.)
• something green (likely an herb)
• parmesan cheese (or the rind)
• salt, pepper
• pork product (I used pancetta)
• stock (beef, chicken, or water, or a combination)
• wine (I used red; you can use white)

I also used two luxury ingredients, but these are simply for showing off: black truffle butter and saffron.

For me, risotto is a layered dish. You are layering flavors over flavors. You can develop these in stages. I always start with onion in fat, and in this case, it was pancetta and EVOO. Then add roughly half of your mushrooms. Add garlic. You want some color on the mushrooms. Layer in some pepper. Then add the rice, with fat still in the pan. Stir in that risotto rice (aborio is but one style), and cook it in the fat.

Next, add alcohol. I here used a Abruzzo red wine, enough to moisten all of the things in the pan. Stir. You’ll be stirring now for 20 more minutes.

Reduce the wine, then add some stock or water. This evening I used a combination of water and stock. So, three liquids: wine, water, stock. Then add the cheese rinds if you have them, from a block of parmesan cheese. You can fish these out later.

Stir. Stir. Stir. Keep adding warm liquid to the pot, and stir. You never want a huge amount of liquid, and you never want it so dry it’s “frying.” Mid-way, add the aromatic vegetables (peppers). Pinch of saffron. Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the mushrooms.

Put in 1/2 of the remaining mushrooms (1/4 total) into the risotto. These will be firmer than the first ones, which cooked in fat. Take the rest, and fry them in butter. Really get color on these guys, and add salt and pepper. Add fresh thyme. Add more fresh garlic. Let these rest until you’re ready to serve.

Before serving the risotto, add your green: chives, more herbs; I used parsley.

Stir in that truffle butter.

Then, when plating, put the “fried” mushrooms on top. They’re crispy and garlicky. And now you have a properly composed dish: the textures will astound you. The flavors should please you. Warm mushrooms with the scent of truffles is divine.

I started with Hanover tomatoes and roasted them in a 250 degree oven for 2 hours to a) remove the skins, and b) reduce some of the moisture. I also drizzled them with EVOO, black pepper, and some garlic slices.

The pizza crust was made from a mixture of:

• ap flour
• 1 packet yeast, warm water
• milk
• EVOO
• salt

I mixed the dough in the stand mixer and let it rise for 2 hours. Then, it was flattened and shaped with additional flour (I always leave pizza dough moist). The end-product was pretty good for crust, maybe a little too much; the yeast was especially active and rose fast.

The toppings included:

• base of grated parmesan cheese
• tomatoes with garlic
• fresh basil
• fresh mozzarella

That’s it! It wasn’t bad. The salad was a simple one, featuring a delicious heirloom tomato.

The menu was a difficult proposition. Everything on the menu looked appetizing, from the appetizers, through fig-accompanied cheese, pastas, and down to the most simple of salads with local greens.

Located in a former warehouse, the restaurant faces a parking lot across the street, with large double-high windows that allow a lot of light into a whimsical space. A smaller number of tables are positioned upstairs, where I gather the best views may be had. Large flowers have been painted on the walls, and a portal window into the kitchen reminds us there are folks hard at work making delicious aromas pour forth from their kitchen.

I only wish they’d blind some of those windows.

Service was generally good, save for a service mistake (spilled sauce), but I honestly felt a little rushed at times. With such good food, it’s okay to relax. A bevy of waiting customers wasn’t waiting for our table.

Small focaccia rolls are served, which had a perfect texture, even though they may have lacked exotic flavors. I tried their simple farmer’s lettuce salad which was unadorned save for a most delicious roasted shallot dressing. Their charcuterie plate and the more daring summer veggie salad were also noted to be fine dishes off the first course list.

Entrées ordered included the papardelle with ragu and parmesan, the fisherman’s stew with seafood, and a squash and ricotta ravioli. The pastas both came in tomato-based sauces, the ragù heavy on beef and not tomato. This was exceptional, I think, because the meat was not ground. I’ve actually never eaten an Italian gravy that wasn’t made from some combination of ground Italian meats. Here, instead, the meat was toothsome, adding great texture to an already flavorful and aromatic pasta dish. I only wish the noodles were stronger to hold up to the sauce. Their fresh nature made them ever so slightly difficult to eat alongside the larger pieces of meat.

The seafood dishes went down quickly, with diners noting the exceptional sauce or gravy. Garlic toast was served to sop-up what remained. Spoons were employed where bread left off. Good stuff.

Dessert was not in the cards, but a personal promise to visit Piedmont another time is. Recommended for honest locavore fare in an upscale, but none-too-fussy understated dining room featuring Italian flavors.

Coming in, on a late afternoon for a cool pick-me-up coffee drink, the waitstaff invited us to try their homemade (on premises) Italian-style gelato. With over 20 flavors, ranging from piña colada, melon, two types of orange, and a new flavor of jalapeño chocolate, we were enticed to take them up on the invitation.

They’ll give you free tastes, and I finally decided on a hauntingly good Sicilian-style pistachio. Its flavor reminded me of the incredible Zingerman’s-procured Sicilian pistachio spread from 2 years ago. Deep, sweet, and somehow, ultimately satisfying. The gelato texture was creamy and smooth. Exceptional, really.

While we visited twice for the coffee drinks, it was three times for the gelato. There are plenty of places to find ice cream, but should you find yourself in South Boston with an itch to slow down and take life a little easier, do check out the samples from the owners of Cafe Peroni. Their gelato and hospitality were both highlights of my travels.

My favorite sandwich is their “true Italian hero,” a simple sandwich on great bread featuring prosciutto di parma, mozzarella cheese, and pickled red sweet peppers. I usually salt the cheese, and I’d kill for a little EVOO, but otherwise, the sandwich is sublime. It goes especially well with some of their San Pellegrino aranciata (Orange) water. Yummo!

The picture looks this way because I was having too much fun after midnight in Photoshop, attempting to make this photo look old. It’s a baked casserole, after all.

Create the sauce: I started with EVOO and a bunch of chopped fresh shiitake mushrooms. Add garlic. Sauté, then add a little red wine. Add the now soften porcini (you poured boiling water over them, didn’t you?), and then finally added chopped tomatoes. Muir-Glen for me, fire-roasted.

I also added one Niman Ranch frozen italian sausage link I had. I sliced it into thin disks.

After the sauce tightens up, add most of the porcini water (minus the sandy bits), and reduce more. In total, I probably cooked the sauce for about 25-35 minutes. Take it off the heat.

Boil your salted water, and cook the ziti or penne. (I prefer the penne rigate by DeCecco.) Add them to the sauce, stir, and then stir in about half of your cheese - as much as you like. I used a three-cheese blend from Whole Foods of Asiago, Parmesan, and Fontina. After the stuff all gets put into a baking dish, cover with more cheese.

So this ought to be a flavorful little dish… three cheeses. Garlic, mushrooms, and italian sausage. Hmmm.. yes, it turned out quite well.

As usual, I served a salad. And you get the benefit of full color this time around.

A very small bed of red-leaf lettuce formed the bottom, undressed. The main stars were the chopped Hanover tomato and avocado. Honey, Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, a pinot grigio vinegar, and EVOO made up the dressing. The tomato and avocado got dressed, and then salted and peppered. The lettuce was just the backdrop.

On the side, two generous croutons that had been topped with a basil pesto before being toasted for 7 minutes in the oven.

Messygood.

MC seems like a place you might dress-up for, but it is positioned next to a Dairy Queen, and you’ll see everyone from “business casual,” to shorts, and folks who actually put a new fresh button-down shirt going inside. During our visit on a busy Saturday night, we were able to wait outside for 15 minutes while a table opened up, sitting next to those eating banana splits from the DQ.

I’ve never figured out MC’s menu, per se. The portions are gargantuan. But not in the sense of what you’d find at Maggiano’s Little Italy. M’s is about eating big, and sharing. I’d like to go to M’s with a big crowd, where we can share a number of dishes, and pile out plates with all of our favorites.

Instead, MC just serves giant portions. What I don’t like is the surcharge for sharing. I really dislike restaurants who want to charge you $3 or more dollars for the privilege of having your own plate. I ordered their Veal Margherita which was not very tomato-y at all. It is served in a pink cream sauce with black olives and artichokes.

My dining companion ordered a giant bowl of penne pasta with red sauce and mini meatballs. They must have put close to a pound of pasta into that bowl. The bowl it comes in looks like something you’d be served when someone announced “this is your last meal.”

Service was okay, except that the soft drinks come in small glasses, watered down (cokes look like iced tea, and iced tea looks like dirty water). Getting a refill was possible, but only after very measured and calculated mini-sips had run their course. The atmosphere was noisy. They do fit a lot of folks into a small space. I never felt crowded, however the noise level on a busy evening might be off-putting to some.

My entrée came on a “silver platter,” likely something you’d pull out for a cocktail party. A bed of farfalle pasta (not indicated on the menu) lined the large platter, and 3 or 4 pieces of veal were spaced evenly across this bed. The black olives (no more than 10) looked nice on the plate, but they lacked flavor. The sauce, it lacked flavor. It was cheesy and there, but even copious shakes of the salt shaker couldn’t coax flavor from that sauce. The veal was cooked well, and the artichokes offered a nice texture, but the platter, as as a whole, was disappointingly bland.

MC serves a “family style” salad - dressed in a wooden bowl - with their entrees. I like the salad, but it was ultimately too small. For such “appropriate” portions of salad, why are the entrées 3 times the volume? It was “just enough” salad. The same for the bread. They served an oil and herb-doused two slices of toasted bread alongside their signature flavored olive oil. The olive oil dipping setup is delicious - yummy in fact. But the bread was already so greasy that one pull of it from the two slices that hadn’t been adequately sliced left my hands belittered with crumbs and an oily coating that even their thick cloth napkins couldn’t wick away (to my ultimate satisfaction). I considered going to the restroom to wash my hands, except that after 10 wipes with the napkin I’d given up and decided I could proceed without soap and water.

The dessert course was tiramisù. Their version is light, but again, long enough for three diners to consider it a full and robust dessert. The chocolate sauce on top seemed rather un-authentic, and despite its refreshing lightness, it was a tad too sugary. It was the highlight of the meal, perhaps, after too small a salad, too greasy bread, too small a beverage, and too bland an entrée had already passed over our table.

I’ve had better meals at MC but this one kind of did it for me. Some may argue that their prices are a steal for the amount of food you get. I took a giant portion of my farfalle home, and when it was dressed with a more flavorful mushroom and tomato sauce, it was a winner upon re-heating.

Restaurants like these likely are considering two things: flavor vs. authenticity. I’m guessing MC is trying for authenticity, but I can tell you, I doubt any chefs in Italy are using a plastic bottle of chocolate sauce on top of their desserts. MC has a good formula: giant portions, included salad with a good dressing and dynamite tasting bread. If they only focused a bit on the flavor quotient and up-size their drinks to match the entrées, they’d be great.

Despite being in a strip mall shopping center, Little Venice has a small bar, and two sections of dining rooms. No matter the amount of sunshine outside, inside the atmosphere is always a little dark, setting a mood for your dining experience.

I ate here most recently and enjoyed their special of a veal chop with mushrooms, demi glace, and sun dried tomatoes. With the entrée came mashed potatoes (unremarkable, but passable), green beans (fresh, but a few too many), and bread and a salad. The entrée was around $34.

Little Venice isn’t your local pizza joint, and it’s not a knock-off of, let’s say, Maggiano’s. This is a different type of Italian; little red sauce, and always a focus on the protein.

As we left, we noticed that many patrons were mature. Had I been in Florida, I might have expected this was the early bird special crowd. Then I began thinking about what we had: shrimp with capers, a steak, my veal chop, and veal marsala. These dishes cater to folks who want a good piece of protein in a flavorful sauce. Many patrons order wine. It’s not innovative cooking, it’s not avant garde, it’s not necessarily authentic to any one region of Italy. Little Venice seems as much French as it might be Italian, but who’s complaining? The food tastes good.

Little Venice seems like the perfect place where I could take my parents if they were visiting. They’d like it. It’s a great place to celebrate the end of a long week. They occasionally have specials that perk your imagination. They make a good, satisfying she-crab soup.

Little Venice’s formulaic approach may not win it any culinary awards, but it’s been bringing in regulars and I guess by this time I’m included. We’ve only left dissatisfied once, and that’s when a special ran $50. So, enjoy the tempting descriptions on the menu. Don’t expect a whole lot from the “sides” on your plate, and if the specials sound good, just ask the price. Relax. While our waitstaff last evening was all young, they were professional and very courteous. And that’s why I like Little Venice: they let me relax.

White beans combine with rosemary to a simple soup base of onions, garlic, and homemade chicken broth. Rough chop it all (minus the rosemary) in the processor, then heat to serve. Garnish with fresh pepper and EVOO.

The salad started off simple, but got more complicated then the soup.

I combined roasted red peppers, a fresh tomato, pine nuts, spicy pepperoni, fresh garlic croutons, and parmesan cheese with a quick and simple dressing of balsamic vinegar and EVOO. Great texture, great flavor.

Perfect food for a wet and chilly evening.

Tonight I made ziti, by request, but avoided the typical “baked” variety with lots of cheese and a heavy tomato sauce. Instead, we went into “puttanesca” territory by adding spicy chile flakes, capers, and Italian sausage alongside the diced tomatoes.

Details of making this dish can be found in this PDF document.

• EVOO, butter
• 2 medium sweet onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• Arborio rice
• heavy cream
• lobster mushrooms
• shiitake mushrooms
• chicken stock, mushroom stock
• white wine
• sun-dried tomatoes (dried, not in oil)
• marjoram, chopped
• shredded roasted pork (this was a sweet tasting product procured from Whole Foods market)

If you’ve made risotto before, it’s the same basic idea here. Start with a mixture of fat and your onions… cook them down until they begin to take on a caramel color. Add chopped shiitake stems and garlic. Then, add the rice, stirring in the fat for 5 minutes before adding liquid.

The first liquid added is a 1/4 cup of white wine, just about any one will do. Then, layer on the flavor with alternating additions of chicken, then mushroom stock. At one point we also added water so it wasn’t too rich.

Near the middle of the cooking we added chopped sun-dried tomatoes, and then added the mushrooms. We had, by weight, about 70% lobster mushrooms and 30% shiitakes. With 5 minutes remaining, add the shredded pork. This kind of dissolved throughout the risotto and enhanced the flavor with the “meatiness” of the concoction. It’s very likely in-authentic, but it was delicious.

Towards the end, round it off with a touch of cream and a fresh sprinkle of marjoram.

If you had it on hand, and wanted to really go a step beyond, shaved parmesan cheese would have been delightful on top, served tableside.

Starter

We started the meal with something else in the Italian spirit, ripe sweet tomatoes, microbasil, and fresh cheese with prosciutto di parma.

Dress the cheese and tomatoes with salt and pepper, the whole lot with a syrupy balsamic and your best EVOO.

This one used applewood smoked bacon. That made it… great.

Start by making a cream sauce. Bacon fat, butter, and flour makes a type of thickening agent (a roux), and add to that milk. This will thicken as it boils, and you can augment that with cream if you like. Ok, I did.

Make sure you add several cloves of garlic as this creamy mixture comes up to temperature.

Then, mix in your cheeses to form the sauce. In this case, I used a divine aged white sharp cheddar, a smokey mozzarella, a sweet gorgonzola, and you guessed it, some parmesan. Fold cooked pasta into the creamy, cheesy mixture, add the bacon, chopped, and top with more grated parmesan and fresh bread crumbs.

Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. If you need, turn on the broiler at the end to “toast” the fresh bread crumbs.

Enjoy. Each and every creamy bite. For this recipe, I used and enjoyed a De Cecco rigatoni. Garnish with chopped basil or parsley.

For one, I consulted some magazines at the library, and found a quick and easy recipe in Gourmet for veal in brown butter and capers. I made this pretty much the way they suggested, after pounding the scallopini.

My only addition was some left-over marjoram from another recipe. It was a nice touch to the butter.

The second recipe was dictated to me via Lynne Rossetto Capser via The Spendid Table, a version she guessed was a call-in person’s ideal dish from a trip in Italy: lemon fettuccine. You take EVOO, steep it warm in garlic and lemon zest. I added cooked fresh pasta noodles, and made a sauce using cream, parmesan cheese, and lemon juice. It was simple, and delicious.

Simply scrumptious this meal was!

The flavors are simple: herbs, good wine, and a base of creamy polenta, scented if you will, by sweet gorgonzola cheese. We start with some ingredients:

• beef short ribs
• red wine (I used a yummy Black Burret syrah/grenache blend)
• onion
• herbs (majoram, thyme)
• garlic
• beef stock

Brown the short ribs in oil, set aside. Add one sweet onion to the pan, still hot, and wilt. Add 3 cloves garlic. Pour one bottle wine into an oven-safe vessel, and add back the short ribs. Since my wine didn’t quite cover the ribs, I augmented the liquid with beef stock.

Cook for 2-3 hours in the oven at 300-375 degrees.

The flavor is punched up here with the addition of a grimolata, a type of spicy topping. Chop more herbs, including parsley, with lemon peel and garlic, and top the cooked short ribs for a flavor “punch.”

To make this topping, I whizzed everything up in the Cuisinart.

I covered the beef short ribs with a wine sauce reduction, after straining the herbs and onion/garlic from the mixture. I thickened the sauce with a flour/butter addition.

For the polenta, whisk-in some instant-cook polenta into boiling beef or chicken stock. It thickens quickly; keep stirring with the wisk, then drop in two medium-sized knobs (I know, how big is a knob, right? You judge!) of gorgonzola dulce cheese. Finish it off with a few glugs of heavy cream (again, judgement!), and stir. Take off the heat; stir in some salt, and keep covered until service (not too long, as you still want to ladle it into the plates runny).

The meal started, however, with some heirloom tomatoes and a favorite: prosciutto.

Here, we used heirloom cherry tomatoes, sliced, and dressed with a garlicky olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar dressing. Between slices of La Quercia American prosciutto slices went the tomatoes; on one side, a wedge of delicious private-farm (Vermont) smoked mozzarella.

I was anxious of trying La quercia after reading about it… it’s produced in America “to rival” the Italian original. The pigs are fed a specially-created diet, matching the ‘old fashioned’ one once carried on in Italy. It was different, for sure, sweet, very “porky,” and not as fat as the Italian variety. Still, delicious.

The tomatoes were so sweet, with sea salt and balsamic adding just the right notes.

Tonight’s dinner came by way of the Whole Foods market, with some ingredients and things I hadn’t used before. I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Everything was quite good.

Toasted pine nuts added crunch, and Maytag Dairy blue cheese was tucked away in all the appropriate places for a salty, unique bite. Salt and pepper topped it all, amid a mixture of crunchy greens.

“The messy chef always makes great salads!” Thank you.

For our main course, we positioned champagne sauced chicken alongside a simple whole-wheat pasta with using an exquisite super Tuscan EVOO, garlic, and my now famous oven-roasted Roma tomatoes.

The love of mushroom variety plus lemon zest and juice, enveloped our chicken breasts, pounded thin, and wrapped in a tasty parmesan crust. As a hint, add the lemon juice just at the end for a maximization of taste.

For the pasta, be sure to use seasoned water, don’t hold back on using good-quality EVOO, and top each serving with the best grate-yourself parmesan you can find. Your tastebuds will love you.

The first is based on a recipe I watched on TV with my very favorite female cook, The Barefoot Contessa. It takes a real woman not to bat an eye when she pours on more butter.

This recipe was served cold. She used pasta, I used Japanese buckwheat noodles. You boil the noodles first, then rinse them under cold water.

The “sauce” is a combination of:

• rice wine vinegar
• oil
• peanut butter
• garlic/chili paste
• soy sauce
• scallion
• ginger, garlic

You add “crunchy vegetables” in addition to the sauce. In this case, it was chopped red peppers and blanched sugar snap peas. It was refreshing and delicious.

Despite an under-saturated picture, the Italian recipe was even better. I used fresh pasta (courtesy of my favorite pasta-maker, Gianni Cavanna), and made up another batch of oven-dried tomatoes. 3 hours, 200 degrees.

Add garlic, good EVOO, salt and pepper, and a healthy dose of grated parmesan cheese. Don’t forget a little chiffonade of basil, and you have some basic, good eating with classic-good flavors.

Eat Noodles!

Each time I have visited, the dining room gets smaller (it’s me, not really the room), and the whole place loses its mystique (familiarity takes over and you now feel more at home). The menu has some “favorites” to choose from, and some new additions.

The crabcake appetizer with prosciutto di parma and julienned melon was divine. This was a special appetizer that was absolutely delicious: it was fresh, well-spiced, and combined an intriguing set of flavors. Sparkling water was a nice offset, cleaning my mouth with its bubbles from the richness introduced by the parma ham and the creamy sauce that played a big role in the dish’s execution.

My entrée of a tagliatelle pasta was less successful, but it nevertheless was tasty. It simply wasn’t a superstar dish like the crab and prosciutto appetizer. Other diners, however, liked their entrées:

The lobster was excellent, one report said, although the MessyChef himself can make a better risotto. I blush, and compliments to the diner! The only thing wrong with this dish was the overpowering salty flavor from the salmon eggs. Personally, I like the color, but real caviar would have likely been a better match. Or truffles. You can’t go wrong with those.

A steak preparation was beautiful to look at, perhaps characterized by the words “understated elegance.” Presentation aside, my fellow diner very much liked the beef entrée and would recommend it to others.

With a round of appetizers and entrées, we skipped dessert, and instead, ordered our favorite versions of coffees: lattés and cappuccinos. They came soon enough, but were small portions that for me at least, arrived too cold. While a $2.50 latté might be a cheap alternative to one of their more pricey desserts, it at least should be something to write home about. The waitress spilled 1/6 (give or take a splash) of the drink outside the cup, too, so I was left with a sticky cup and a drink that should have been piping hot, but was lukewarm. Underwhelming for the end of an otherwise quite enjoyable meal.

We came back to Sensi because we liked our previous visits, but they still haven’t been firing full-power on all engines. Yet, the potential is still there. For some innovative dishes, some primo ingredients, and flair in Italian cuisine, we still would return to Sensi in downtown Richmond. Rating Sensi is difficult for me; in the world-class range, it’s a “3,” but considering what Richmond is currently offering, I’ll let it maintain its “4”.