Last week our friend Catherine suggested that we go to a 'Tuscan Thursday' event tonight. The Grinning Gourmand, a gourmet food shop here in Burlington that generally sells gourmet foods and light lunches, has recently started opening up on Thursday evenings for this special event. The shop is run by a personable young couple: Paul is the chef and his wife Cary does much of the greeting/serving.
Dinner is served outside on a lovely patio nestled between the shop and the building next door. The wall of the shop is covered with ivy so it made for a very peaceful and relaxed setting - it actually reminded me of one of the restaurants where we had dinner in Rome (although without the extremely insistent rose seller but that, as they say, is a tale for another day).
The menu is simple: three salad choices, an antipasto platter, two pasta dishes, two meat dishes, and two desserts. There was a limited wine and cocktail list.
I discovered thaat the food wasn't traditional Tuscan food (having been to Tuscany last year I am of course an expert!), it was more a fusion of Italian regional tastes with a North American twist. It was, however, extremely tasty, freshly prepared, and served in an efficient and friendly manner.
We started off with cocktails (I had a limoncello with soda which was an amazing drink for a summer's evening!). For our appetizers we ordered salads (a caprese for me). The caprese was unusual in that it wasn't made with roma tomatoes and it had a dressing instead of the usual simple olive oil, salt, and pepper dressing. It also had thin slices of cucumbers and baby leaf lettuce. However where it lost points on the 'traditionality' scale it gained because it was so fresh and flavourful; one of the servers actually gathered the basil for the salad from a tiny herb garden beside our table after we had ordered.
The antipasto platter was brilliant! It had three types of cured meats, three cheeses, roasted garlic, a wide variety of house cured olives, and roasted red pepper and eggplant. This thing was HUGE! I could have happily had this for my meal.
For the main courses Ruth and Catherine both ordered a pasta dish which came with roasted vegetables, grilled chicken, in a tomato and herb sauce. It smelled wonderful. Paul and I both ordered Chicken Saltimbucca which was nothing like the saltimbucca in Rome (which as you know is the Saltimbucca capital of Italy!) It was really a chicken cutlet with fresh sage and prosciutto, breaded and served with a tomato sauce and cheese. Like most North American Italian restaurants it was served with pasta, and a vegetable (roasted peppers, onions, and zucchini). OK, so it was not traditional in any way, but it was good! The portions were huge so I have lunch for tomorrow!
Like I said, we took most of our dinners home (except for Paolo AKA the finisher!) This allowed us room for dessert. Tonight they were featuring a baked chocolate and banana tarte and a biscotti plate. Paul, Catherine and Ruth ordered the tarte and I ordered the biscotti. The tarte looked amazing and apparently tasted even better. The biscotti was unusual, there were two types: fig and chocolate. The crisp cookies were softer than I remembered. Cary commented that it was because they replaced some of the flour with almond flour. Even though I know some Italians fine it 'gauche' I missed dipping them into a glass of vin santo! YUM
The bill for the four of us was $ 224. This included four cocktails, a bottle of wine, a bottle of water, four salads, the antipasto platter, four mains, two tartes (Ruth and Catherine shared) and my biscotti platter. It was a nice evening; great food, better company, and the house did not need a second mortgage to pay for it all!
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