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Restaurant Project: C
Feb. 28th, 2011 08:45 pmSo at our last Restaurant Project outing, as I was discussing where we might wind up going next, I was given a very pleasant and unexpected gift - ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jducoeur informed us that, as a belated birthday/holiday present he would like to sponsor C, and gave us a gift certificate to La Campania, thereby both solving the problem of where to go and answering the question of whether restaurants with "the," "la," "el," or some other lead-in counted as the first letter of the name, or the first letter of the first word.
I had never heard of La Campania before, but he described it as being pretty amazing, and the web page described a beautiful place with a tasty food, so it sounded like a lot of fun, and this weekendumbran and I decided to go.
This was an epic experience. Hands-down, no question, the best meal of my life so far. I cannot describe how glad I am to have gone, and how delightful it was.
La Campania looks tiny from the outside, but once you get inside it turns out to be much, much larger than it looks. The space is divided up into a bunch of smaller rooms and nooks and halls, so that no matter how big the restaurant itself is, the place where you're sitting seems private and cozy. It's all brick and old wood and beautiful, and the giant box of bright yellow tulips next to our table just made things even more cheerful.
And the food. Oh my god, the food. I started out with an Antipasta of Mozzarella di Bufala, Tomatoes, and Roasted Red Pepper, and this may have been the best dish of the night. The mozzarella was smooth and creamy, the tomatoes were surprisingly tasty for this time of year, and the peppers were bright and rich and tart and vinegary and everything just worked together perfectly.umbran had the Arancini with Speck and Parmesan, and those were excellent, as well - crispy and creamy at the same time, and the flavors of the speck and the cheese and the rice all stood out in their own way.
For the main course, I wound up ordering a duck dish - Duck Leg Confit, Roasted Breast, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Escarole Affogata (which apparently means cooked with raisins, olives, and capers). I am a sucker for duck in almost any form, and this didn't disappoint. The leg was good, and the breast was impeccable - a little on the rare side but juicy and delicious, with a balsamic vinegar sauce that just made it even better. The escarole was amazing, and the tartness of the capers and raisins balanced the bitterness of the greens perfectly. But the most amazing part was the sweet potatoes. I had always thought that I hated sweet potatoes - the cloying sugariness, the weird semi-sticky, semi-dry texture, and the nasty marshmallow goo. These were... I don't even know how to describe them. Like eating slightly sweet, caramelized, earthy clouds. I have become an utter convert, and if I can ever make anything that delicious I will die happy.
umbran ordered the Grilled Rack of Venison, with mashed potatoes and some sort of greens (he didn't keep as detailed track as I did), and a port wine reduction. I didn't taste the potatoes or greens, but he says they were tasty. The venison, though, was heavenly. It was, like the duck, much rarer than I would have ordered, but for once that didn't bother me. The outside was smoky and seared to perfection, and the texture on the rest of the meat was meltingly rich, not mushy and weird.
For dessert we shared an order of bread pudding. It came layered with melted chocolate, with a rum creme anglaise and butter pecan gelato, and, continuing the theme of the evening, was brilliant. The bread was rich and delicious and not mushy or too dry or too soggy, the creme was flavorful but not overpoweringly boozy, and the gelato was the perfect amount of sweet to balance the bitterness of the chocolate.
I was in food heaven. My only regret is that the restaurant is far enough outside our standard price range that we will not be able to eat there on anything like a regular basis; on the other hand, doing so would probably detract from the special-occasion-ness of the experience.
Everything else from here on out is going to have a tough time competing. So a thousand thanks tojducoeur for making this happen!
And now, on to D. Any thoughts or suggestions? And what's your favorite super-special-occasion restaurant?
Edited to add: Agreed, Dali is awesome, and I love it! Alas, I have been there before, and I'm trying to avoid repeating restaurants I'm familiar with. Anyone have any *other* D recommendations? :)
jducoeur informed us that, as a belated birthday/holiday present he would like to sponsor C, and gave us a gift certificate to La Campania, thereby both solving the problem of where to go and answering the question of whether restaurants with "the," "la," "el," or some other lead-in counted as the first letter of the name, or the first letter of the first word.I had never heard of La Campania before, but he described it as being pretty amazing, and the web page described a beautiful place with a tasty food, so it sounded like a lot of fun, and this weekend
umbran and I decided to go.This was an epic experience. Hands-down, no question, the best meal of my life so far. I cannot describe how glad I am to have gone, and how delightful it was.
La Campania looks tiny from the outside, but once you get inside it turns out to be much, much larger than it looks. The space is divided up into a bunch of smaller rooms and nooks and halls, so that no matter how big the restaurant itself is, the place where you're sitting seems private and cozy. It's all brick and old wood and beautiful, and the giant box of bright yellow tulips next to our table just made things even more cheerful.
And the food. Oh my god, the food. I started out with an Antipasta of Mozzarella di Bufala, Tomatoes, and Roasted Red Pepper, and this may have been the best dish of the night. The mozzarella was smooth and creamy, the tomatoes were surprisingly tasty for this time of year, and the peppers were bright and rich and tart and vinegary and everything just worked together perfectly.
umbran had the Arancini with Speck and Parmesan, and those were excellent, as well - crispy and creamy at the same time, and the flavors of the speck and the cheese and the rice all stood out in their own way.For the main course, I wound up ordering a duck dish - Duck Leg Confit, Roasted Breast, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, and Escarole Affogata (which apparently means cooked with raisins, olives, and capers). I am a sucker for duck in almost any form, and this didn't disappoint. The leg was good, and the breast was impeccable - a little on the rare side but juicy and delicious, with a balsamic vinegar sauce that just made it even better. The escarole was amazing, and the tartness of the capers and raisins balanced the bitterness of the greens perfectly. But the most amazing part was the sweet potatoes. I had always thought that I hated sweet potatoes - the cloying sugariness, the weird semi-sticky, semi-dry texture, and the nasty marshmallow goo. These were... I don't even know how to describe them. Like eating slightly sweet, caramelized, earthy clouds. I have become an utter convert, and if I can ever make anything that delicious I will die happy.
umbran ordered the Grilled Rack of Venison, with mashed potatoes and some sort of greens (he didn't keep as detailed track as I did), and a port wine reduction. I didn't taste the potatoes or greens, but he says they were tasty. The venison, though, was heavenly. It was, like the duck, much rarer than I would have ordered, but for once that didn't bother me. The outside was smoky and seared to perfection, and the texture on the rest of the meat was meltingly rich, not mushy and weird.For dessert we shared an order of bread pudding. It came layered with melted chocolate, with a rum creme anglaise and butter pecan gelato, and, continuing the theme of the evening, was brilliant. The bread was rich and delicious and not mushy or too dry or too soggy, the creme was flavorful but not overpoweringly boozy, and the gelato was the perfect amount of sweet to balance the bitterness of the chocolate.
I was in food heaven. My only regret is that the restaurant is far enough outside our standard price range that we will not be able to eat there on anything like a regular basis; on the other hand, doing so would probably detract from the special-occasion-ness of the experience.
Everything else from here on out is going to have a tough time competing. So a thousand thanks to
jducoeur for making this happen!And now, on to D. Any thoughts or suggestions? And what's your favorite super-special-occasion restaurant?
Edited to add: Agreed, Dali is awesome, and I love it! Alas, I have been there before, and I'm trying to avoid repeating restaurants I'm familiar with. Anyone have any *other* D recommendations? :)
