Saturday, October 30, 2010

Specials from Da Mario


Well, these didn't exactly look that special, but they were picked from the Specials section of their menu. Basically, a starter of scamoza cheese wrapped in some prosciutto crudo di Parma with a sprinkle of pepper and some rockets followed by egg tagliatelle with Porcini and shaven black truffles in a light cream sauce.

The choice of starter turned out to be the most satisfying for me since I had pretty much had a Warrior's diet for the day and the onrush of the salt from the milky curd cheese and ham was exactly what my body was craving for. The chewy cheese weren't the smoked variety and were probably just lightly pan fried with very little browning. Still things came together very nicely with the nutty ham for a great savory finish.

So, what did I think of the pasta? It was timely cooked, still had the hint of egg even though it was doused in the cream sauce loaded with various fungi. I did think that the flavors tonight could have been one of those good instances of a well balanced robustness, redolent of mushrooms instead of being excessive at that. It lingered with my burps even after a bottle of wine and a pint. Overall, was an enjoyable choice for my late impromptu dinner.

2 comments:

ratatouille said...

how were the black truffles? are they offering the white ones?

LiquidShaDow said...

There are no white ones on offer, I'm not sure if Da Mario does whites as I have never recall them doing so. The black ones were quite aromatic and the scent was pretty much there as the brought the plate to the table. Flavors were light and earthy. I don't really feel that they do so much in terms of taste, but the aroma is nice.