Skip to main content

La Grotta

My friends and I enjoyed a wonderful night out at La Grotta. I wrote about the restaurant a year ago and my verdict stands: elegant, relaxed service that perfectly complements outstanding food. As you can see, our garden table was one of the nicest parts of the evening. We started off with smoked salmon and duck risotto. Risotto is a little tricky to make and La Grotta's is flawless so far as my non-Italian taste buds can tell. The risotto was almost infused with the duck in a remarkably subtle way; the risotto was the perfect balance to the strong taste of duck.
For our main courses, Giselle and I tried the two versions of veal scallopini, mine with lemon butter sauce and hers with cream sauce. Hyesoon and Yu had quail stuffed with pork; Hyesoon gave me a sample and the combination was outstanding. Catherine went with chicken in a caper sauce that truly amazed me. The capers were combined with something else I can't quite identify, perhaps rosemary, to give an almost pine-like flavor. We of course sampled the dessert options, all of which were delicious. Catherine once again chose spectacularly with her chocolate cake. Hyesoon's panna cotta was topped with pistachios, one of those flavors you don't often find outside of Italian food. The result was delicate and exquisite. La Grotta on Urbanspoon
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course)
Post a Comment
Read more

DCA: Cava Mezze Grill

Cava is a DC area chain with light Mediterranean food. Saibal encouraged me to try lunch at their airport location and I was very happy with the experience. I ordered falafel on SuperSalad with assorted other toppings. The falafel was tasty. The SuperSalad was light, flavorful, and very easy to eat. Overall, a healthy and enjoyable lunch, something you can't always say about airport eating.
Post a Comment
Read more

Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b
2 comments
Read more