I've been wanting to try
Modo Mio's Turista Menu for a long, long time without ever getting it together enough to make a reservation, gather eatmates and have money all at the same time. But! Finally, L. and I during our planning for a meal last week, found that we both wanted to brunch
and go to Modo Mio, which was very exciting to me...and her too, I think. So, finally, last Thursday L. and I met up and cabbed it on over to the restaurant. The Turista Menu gives you an antipasti, pasta, entree and desssert for $33. I spent countless hours (yes, hours) perusing the menu in the days leading up to the meal, and I still had no idea what I was going to do...but in the end I went with the gnoccho starter (crispy fried potato dumpling stuffed with foie gras and chicken liver, with a orange-fennel mostarda and gorgonzola cheese) while L. went with the panelle (crispy chick pea crepe, rosemary grilled shrimp and sambuca cream). If it were a battle, I think L. would have won this round. The shrimp were so great and the sauce, oh my, the sauce. You know how sometimes you order shrimp from a place and while technically they are shrimp, there's something about them that strikes you as terribly wrong? Or is this just me? It is most frequently experienced at Chinese, Mexican and cheap Thai resaurants. Anyways, the point is that these shrimp were the real deal. My gnoccho wasn't shabby. I picked up on the liver more than the foie gras, but that is to be expected I think, and the gorgonzola wasn't overwhelming but when you got a good bite it picked up the whole dish...the sweetness of the orange was a nice relief from all the savory. My only complaint would be that the lighting is so low I couldn't take a good photograph...but this is true for each dish.
A close up of L.'s antipasti.
For the pasta dish I ordered the spaghetti (rock shrimp, olive oil, garlic, ginger and breadcrumbs). It was so good. The thing about the servings of each course were that there was enough on your plate that you really got to be familiar with the different tastes, but they weren't so large that you were overdoing it...or not overdoing it that much. By the bye, Modo Mio is BYO, so we brought a white and a red. The white, we found, was a little too fruity for our tastes, but we made a dent in it before giving it up for the Chianti (which was serviceable but nothing to write home about...just to write on my blog is all). L.'s pasta dish, the buccatini, was really great too (hollow spaghetti, pancetta, spicy plum tomato and pecorino).
For our main dishes I ordered the bisteca siciliana (breaded and grilled ribeye, aged provolone, fried egg, sopressata and anchovy caper butter) and L. ordered the miale (Milanese style pork loin, peach mostarda, radicchio, almond and shaved grana). We shared the rucola contorni (arugula with raisins, pinenuts, pecorino and lemon). My dish (of which I could not get an even half-way decent picture, was a lot of really strong flavors combined in a suprisingly complementary way. I won't lie, I did find it and the rucola a little too salty but, at least with the steak, I mean, what did I expect with capers, anchovies and provolone in the mix?
L.'s pork was lovely in its crispy outside and absolutely succulent inside.
For dessert I had the chocolate ganache and caramel, which was totally and utterly awesome. L. had something tasty, but I forget what it was exactly, since we were both so enthralled with my dessert.
The men sitting next to us were curious about my picture taking, which led to my talking about my blog, which led to them pulling out their blackberries and iphones to look it up, which was pretty funny. We made friends and ended up having a glass of port with them outside (they left first while we finished our meal, but were still outside when we finally departed the main dining area). They were kind enough to offer me a cigar, which I gratefully accepted. And then this picture was taken.
And then this one.
And finally this one.
Even though I did have a salt overload in the third course, there is no doubt that this place is a magical eating experience. I mean, $33 for all of this high quality food? What?! Oh man. If I could I'd go back all the time. I will certainly go back, but probably not all the time. They are about to switch their menu, which means that I'll have a whole new slew of decisions to make. Yikes.
A close up of L.'s antipasti.
For the pasta dish I ordered the spaghetti (rock shrimp, olive oil, garlic, ginger and breadcrumbs). It was so good. The thing about the servings of each course were that there was enough on your plate that you really got to be familiar with the different tastes, but they weren't so large that you were overdoing it...or not overdoing it that much. By the bye, Modo Mio is BYO, so we brought a white and a red. The white, we found, was a little too fruity for our tastes, but we made a dent in it before giving it up for the Chianti (which was serviceable but nothing to write home about...just to write on my blog is all). L.'s pasta dish, the buccatini, was really great too (hollow spaghetti, pancetta, spicy plum tomato and pecorino).
For our main dishes I ordered the bisteca siciliana (breaded and grilled ribeye, aged provolone, fried egg, sopressata and anchovy caper butter) and L. ordered the miale (Milanese style pork loin, peach mostarda, radicchio, almond and shaved grana). We shared the rucola contorni (arugula with raisins, pinenuts, pecorino and lemon). My dish (of which I could not get an even half-way decent picture, was a lot of really strong flavors combined in a suprisingly complementary way. I won't lie, I did find it and the rucola a little too salty but, at least with the steak, I mean, what did I expect with capers, anchovies and provolone in the mix?
L.'s pork was lovely in its crispy outside and absolutely succulent inside.
For dessert I had the chocolate ganache and caramel, which was totally and utterly awesome. L. had something tasty, but I forget what it was exactly, since we were both so enthralled with my dessert.
The men sitting next to us were curious about my picture taking, which led to my talking about my blog, which led to them pulling out their blackberries and iphones to look it up, which was pretty funny. We made friends and ended up having a glass of port with them outside (they left first while we finished our meal, but were still outside when we finally departed the main dining area). They were kind enough to offer me a cigar, which I gratefully accepted. And then this picture was taken.
And then this one.
And finally this one.
Even though I did have a salt overload in the third course, there is no doubt that this place is a magical eating experience. I mean, $33 for all of this high quality food? What?! Oh man. If I could I'd go back all the time. I will certainly go back, but probably not all the time. They are about to switch their menu, which means that I'll have a whole new slew of decisions to make. Yikes.
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