Last night, I attended the farewell dinner in honor of my friend Victoria's upcoming departure from the United States. At 7:00, we all arrived at Martini's in the Short North, which had been remodeled last fall. I've dined at Martini's several times before. There used to be a location on Polaris parkway, so it had been a go-to restaurant for may business functions in the past. I've always been underwhelmed by Martini's, never really having anything that blew my socks off.
This time around, the experience at Martini's (apparently it's "Martini's Modern Italian") proved to be much improved, both in terms of the cuisine and the ambiance. The restaurant on High St is far more glamorous than the previous interior. There is a nice glow throughout the dining room that emanates from an under-lit bar and communal table, plus some beautiful chandeliers. The chandeliers are my favorite addition. They have a perfect little smattering of red crystals to take them out of the norm. My only complaint about the restaurant's new attitude is that they were playing what seemed to be loud electronica, which didn't really match the atmosphere.
Martini's reincarnated menu is much simpler that the previous one and sticks to basic Italian fare done with good ingredients. I had a roasted beet salad with pistachios, goat cheese and greens to start. Nothing mind blowing, but it was done well. For my main, I ordered the gnocchi bolongese. Ordering gnochhi is always a risk for me because I expect what I grew up with in my own home. Martini's gnocchi were a little more dense than my liking, but the bolognese was nice and incorporated the added twist of using boar. Still, I prefer my own. A few people at the table ordered the osso bucco. Martini's choose to use short ribs in the dish, which surprised me. Part of the real treat of osso bucco is getting to eat the marrow in the veal shank. I feel like the people who ordered that dish were robbed a little.
Find more information on Martini's Modern Italian here: http://www.martinimodernitalian.com/Menus.cfm
Today, the Italian experience continued into spending some time with Susan De Luca and her family, learning how to make their version of Italian Wedding Soup. It's a really interesting experience to see how two families make the same dish but in slightly different ways. The De Luca version used spinach, while the Del Gallo's use escarole. Susan's mother simmers her meatballs in water first, while mine browns them.
The De Luca version of Italian Wedding Soup is simple and tasty. It's great comfort food for a cold winter day like today. Below is the recipe:
De Luca Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients:
chicken broth (4 14 oz cans)
chopped spinach
Acini de Pepe pasta (33)
1lb ground turkey (could use any other ground meat)
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 tlbs Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tlbs dried parsley
1/2 tsp ground thyme
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup water, broth, or milk
Preparation:
1. Mix turkey through milk in a large bowl and blend together using hands.
2. Using a teaspoon, roll meat mixture into small balls
3. Simmer meatballs in batches in water until meatballs rise to the top
4. Simmer meatballs in chicken broth with spinach
5. While soup is simmering, cook pasta per the package directions. Make enough that is appropriate for the amount of soup you have made.
6. Add cooked pasta to simmering soup and serve with more Parmigiano Reggiano.
History on Italian Wedding soup can be found here:
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodsoups.html
No comments:
Post a Comment