Sunday, July 18, 2010

Piccolo


Courtland and I celebrated our 6th year anniversary on Saturday.  Can't believe how fast years have gone by already since I married this man.

He's funny. He's smart. He's a rock star dad.  He likes to travel.  He enjoys good food and spirits.  I'm one lucky girl:)

Each year, we treat ourselves to a fine-dining restaurant to celebrate our anniversary.  We've been to 112 eatery, http://www.112eatery.com/, and La Belle Vie, http://www.labellevie.us/, in the past.  Both are lovely settings with great service and food.   Piccolo, http://www.piccolompls.com/,  opened within the last year, and we were anxious to try it.  Thank goodness we made reservations over a month ago.  The restaurant was featured on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations "Heartland" episode this week and got rave reviews.
Since our table wasn't quite ready and in honor of our anniversary, the hostess gave each of us a glass of champagne on the house.  Great way to start off our dining experience!  Once seated, we ordered a bottle of wine and were served a basket of bread (which I suspect was from Rustica Bakery).  Piccolo's philosophy is "taste more, eat better," so the dishes are small/medium-sized proportions.   Our waiter suggested we order 3-5 dishes each.   We decided to share, which allowed us both to each have a variety of food.   We ordered:
Green grape gazpacho with compressed melon, lomo Iberico and summer flowers
Spanish mojama with fried artichokes, radishes, fennel puree, and arugula
Bone marrow gnocchi with veal heart, italian parsley puree, and bread crumbs
Scrambled brown eggs with pickled pigs feet, truffle butter and parmigiano
Ocean trout with english shell peas, sea beans, and king crab stuffed pasta
Seared tuna with salt packed anchovies, swiss chard, black olive puree and onion "tart tatin"
Stone Bridge Farms veal with fava beans, potato and miso pave and white shoyu

Everything was delicious.   My favorites were the gnocchi, scrambled brown eggs, trout, and the veal.

For dessert, we had the Coconut Cake with white chocolate, bergamot marscarpone and buttered almond ice cream.  An incredible, light treat to end our meal. 

I didn't take any pictures, since we wanted to enjoy each other's company and the setting is quite intimate.  Service was efficient,  friendly, and not rushed.  For a fine-dining experience, Piccolo rates right up there with La Belle Vie and 112eatery.  It was a unique dining experience that clearly lived up to our expectations.