Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Modo Mio Mania

Last Friday, C.P., R. and I met up and cabbed on over to Modo Mio, where we rendezvoused with L. and C.M. for some magic eating. While C.P. had met C.M. and L. at a barbeque some time ago, R. hadn't met them before, so I was hoping everyone would get along and be friends. Alas, L. quickly offended R. and the rest of dinner was quite awkward. Just kidding! We all went for the turista menu, which is of course what we did because it is incredible and the obvious right choice. I agonized between a few different dishes for my first course, but in the end I was most drawn to the torta with salt cod, semolina tort, fried egg, and sweet and sour tomato. Mmmm. Loved it.
C.P. ordered the bruschetta with rustic chicken liver pate, capers and fig on garlic bread. I enjoyed the little piece that she gave me, as I did the taste of L.'s Mozzarella en Carozza.
I was really torn between the bucatini amatriciana, which I've enjoyed a few different times over my visits to Modo Mio, and the 'priest's chokers,' or, said another way, potato gnocchi with green olives, plum tomato and fresh mozzarella. In the end I decided to try something new, but I must simply accept that I'm not all that big a fan of gnocchi, no matter its nicknames or accompaniments.
C.P. ordered the tortelloni, with gorgonzola dolce, pumpkin and almond asparagus butter. The taste I had of this was surprising, and perhaps the most complicated but fully realized dish of the pastas. The pumpkin and gorgonzola informed each other in ways you might not expect.
L. tried the pasta special of the night, which involved tomato cream, lots of cheese and baked pasta. Her life was forever changed by this pasta. I know this because she told me.
For my main course I went with the pan seared trout with boquerones, raddichio, truffled vinaigrette, green olives, tomato and pecorino. There was a lot going on here, and while I liked the various elements, it wasn't quite the perfect match between me and this particular fish preparation. The truffled vinaigrette and radicchio were good but to me there was a disconnect between the flavors going on there and the boquerones/trout element of the dish. Meanwhile, C.P. ordered the breaded skate wing with raisins, pine nuts and arugula pesto. And let me tell you what, that was off the hook. Literally. Heh. No but seriously, so good.
We were also given complimentary arugula and this roasted pumpkin dish. I love arugula and have a strangely standoffish relationship with pumpkin, so I gravitated toward that which I already had an appreciation for. At this point we had probably shared and enjoyed one bottle of champagne and maybe three bottles of red wine?
No dinner would be complete without complimentary sambuca shots, which we all enjoyed either in one fell gulp or at a more sipping pace.
And then, of course, there was dessert. Oh my god. Since there were five of us, and there were five options, we just got them all and maneuvered for bites of each one. There was a goat's cheese something that I liked very much, and something with crazy amounts of nutella that also had its charms.
Then I asked L. to take a photo of C. and me. Actually, she took two ... but the first one was of C. and a crazy person I have no understanding of.

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