I started off this week with the first of three wine dinners in a row and on Sunday Samuel joined me as Will is off in the UK for a while. We have always enjoyed dining at Al Dente, where Chef Roberto Donna is truly top chef and Samuel adores everything he makes. He was joined by chef/sommelier Davide Megna from Imperio wine pouring(for me, not Sam) superb wines from the Veneto region and roaming the room all night giving details about the wonderful wines. I have to give credit to our server, Ivan, as well, as I did demand some refills and the place was quite full with wine lovers, so it was a bit crazy and he maintained perfection in service all evening.
Risotto al Radicchio e Radicchio Fritto was a gorgeous red radicchio risotto with some fried radicchio on top and presented with the first corn shoots of the season on top. The dish was perfectly perppery and paired ideally with a Ripasso Della Valpolicella Superiore 2017 from Tinazzi that was drinking gorgeously for being just released. While we had told the staff that Sam did not eat red meat or fish, somehow some pieces of sausage were in the dish, but Sam, who is a person not to complain in a restaurant, gobbled it up and was even ready to ask for more.
More would have been too much as the next course was a Bigoli all'Anatra or thick house made spaghetti in rich thick duck ragu. This was paired with a Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot (70/30%) blend called "Dugal" or rooster also from Tinazzi 2017. The rooster refers to the cock-fighting of the two grapes. It was a nice wine, but not as silky and smooth as the first; I guess I am just not a big Cab fan. Sam really wanted another plate of this, but we had asked for a main course of poultry and a plate of risotto arrived with gorgeously plated diver scallops on top. I hope someone enjoyed this as we had to send it back! Instead a plate of Chef Roberto's top notch chicken fingers and fries with garlic aioli arrived for Sam!
My main course was a perfectly cooked Manzo al Gorgonzola with roasted NY Strip steak sliced thinly and served with Gorgonzola and polenta Taragna(apparently a specific type of polenta from the region). It was an ideal size as a huge steak would have been way too much and the sauce was divine and rich and paired with a brilliant 2015 Amarone della Valpolicella from Villa Loren. Amarone is one of my fave wines and this was aged 30 months in Slovenian oak with huge raisin hints and long legs in the glass--DIVINE!
We were presented small pitchers of chocolate sauce and the dessert arrived after a nice rest: Pandoro Cioccolato, Mascarpone e Lamponi was a nice pound-cake like cake with mascarpone cheese mousse and raspberries on top of which we poured the sauce. You can see a fun video along with photos on FB! Paired with a super fun sparkling red called Sangue di Guida (yes, the blood of Judah) made from Croatirra, Uberrara and Barbera grapes that was so much fun to drink and cut the chocolate ideally.
What a fun night and I hope we get more chances to go to Al Dente's super(and $75 bargain) wine dinners each month! Bravi tutti.
