The Italian 7-Course at Mamma Maria
>> Sunday, February 11, 2007
On the upper notes of things, like I said, I went to a 7-course dinner at an Italian restaurant called Mamma Maria. It's a pretty quaint and homey restaurant. It's not highly decorated, but it's casual and comfortable which is quite charming as well. Everything is very casual, it's like stepping into somebody's dining room.
When we sat down, a jar of red, a basket of assorted breads and a plate of antipasto is already waiting for us. The plate of antipasto consists of some grilled eggplant, marinated onions, chickpeas and sauteed carrots. Afterwards, the waitress came over to explain the whole process and told us about the choices we have for entrees. We each chose one and then continued with our second course.
The second course is a very nice plate of lentil
soup with carrots, onion and celery. The broth is light and clear, I've always been amazed of how flavorful lentil soup could be even without chicken broth. I think I'm going to be making that for dinner some nights and add a chicken leg confit on top. The third course is the pasta trio, which is an assortment of three different pasta in different sauces. It is some gnocchi in marinara sauce, bowtie pasta in alfredo sauce and some penne is a roze sauce. It is quite simply put on a plate next to each other. The penne is my favorite. I always like the mixture of the creaminess and roundness of alfredo and the acidity and flavor of marinara.
The entree comes next. MP chose the
grouper with crabmeat on top in a safflony cream sauce and she gave me and ES a bite, it was surprisingly good. ES originally wanted the filet mignon with sauteed mushrooms but she changed her mind and got the langoustine seafood platter instead. I was gonna order the langoustine, but since she ordered it, I got the filet. might as well tried a bit of everything, right? ES' seafood platter comes with shrimp and calamari flavored with lemon juice and some melted butter. She gave me one of her langoustine and I really liked it. My filet mignon was good, but nothing too special.
A plate of salad came next, and a plate of cheeses and watermelon. Then it comes dessert. The waiter recommended that we have the ricotta cheescake, but later came back saying they are out of it. We teased him so bad. So we shared a piece of italian rum cake, a piece of chocolate cake and a piece of pineapple coconut cake. The pineapple coconut cake has fresh pineapple in it and tasted really good. The others are just so-so. The thing that also get me is that ES and I had our camera ready around the whole meal, but the food is not really "plated". It is really casual, the cake is a thin slice flopped on a plate, it doesn't even have whipped cream or syrup on top. The salad is like going to a diner ordering a side green salad.
The service was pretty good though. The jar of red wine we have on the side is kept filled to the top over the whole meal. I understand how coffee and booze can be counted as a course all by themselves. At the end, they brought out a whole arsenal of liquors, some home-made, some store bought for us to try. There's limoncello, limoncello cream, a raspberry liquor, a strawberry one, a store-bought sambuca, disarrono and a guapa (sp?). The waitress came over and taught us how to make shots, two-thirds limoncello cream, one third of the strawberry and she calls it "the strawberry shortcake". Of course, I'm not a big drinker, but I tried a drop of everything just for the flavor anyway. I really like the sambuca and the disarrono. Sambuca taste like licorice, I personally don't like licorice but somehow I don't mind it in liquid form. The disarrono taste like almond and I do like almond, I must use it to cook sometime. I don't think I have a shot glass full if I add up all the liquor I've consumed that night and I barely have a glass full of red wine.
All in all, I really enjoyed myself and at the end it only comes to $62. It's definitely a good experience. I'll post the pictures later...
When we sat down, a jar of red, a basket of assorted breads and a plate of antipasto is already waiting for us. The plate of antipasto consists of some grilled eggplant, marinated onions, chickpeas and sauteed carrots. Afterwards, the waitress came over to explain the whole process and told us about the choices we have for entrees. We each chose one and then continued with our second course.
The second course is a very nice plate of lentil
soup with carrots, onion and celery. The broth is light and clear, I've always been amazed of how flavorful lentil soup could be even without chicken broth. I think I'm going to be making that for dinner some nights and add a chicken leg confit on top. The third course is the pasta trio, which is an assortment of three different pasta in different sauces. It is some gnocchi in marinara sauce, bowtie pasta in alfredo sauce and some penne is a roze sauce. It is quite simply put on a plate next to each other. The penne is my favorite. I always like the mixture of the creaminess and roundness of alfredo and the acidity and flavor of marinara.The entree comes next. MP chose the
grouper with crabmeat on top in a safflony cream sauce and she gave me and ES a bite, it was surprisingly good. ES originally wanted the filet mignon with sauteed mushrooms but she changed her mind and got the langoustine seafood platter instead. I was gonna order the langoustine, but since she ordered it, I got the filet. might as well tried a bit of everything, right? ES' seafood platter comes with shrimp and calamari flavored with lemon juice and some melted butter. She gave me one of her langoustine and I really liked it. My filet mignon was good, but nothing too special.A plate of salad came next, and a plate of cheeses and watermelon. Then it comes dessert. The waiter recommended that we have the ricotta cheescake, but later came back saying they are out of it. We teased him so bad. So we shared a piece of italian rum cake, a piece of chocolate cake and a piece of pineapple coconut cake. The pineapple coconut cake has fresh pineapple in it and tasted really good. The others are just so-so. The thing that also get me is that ES and I had our camera ready around the whole meal, but the food is not really "plated". It is really casual, the cake is a thin slice flopped on a plate, it doesn't even have whipped cream or syrup on top. The salad is like going to a diner ordering a side green salad.
The service was pretty good though. The jar of red wine we have on the side is kept filled to the top over the whole meal. I understand how coffee and booze can be counted as a course all by themselves. At the end, they brought out a whole arsenal of liquors, some home-made, some store bought for us to try. There's limoncello, limoncello cream, a raspberry liquor, a strawberry one, a store-bought sambuca, disarrono and a guapa (sp?). The waitress came over and taught us how to make shots, two-thirds limoncello cream, one third of the strawberry and she calls it "the strawberry shortcake". Of course, I'm not a big drinker, but I tried a drop of everything just for the flavor anyway. I really like the sambuca and the disarrono. Sambuca taste like licorice, I personally don't like licorice but somehow I don't mind it in liquid form. The disarrono taste like almond and I do like almond, I must use it to cook sometime. I don't think I have a shot glass full if I add up all the liquor I've consumed that night and I barely have a glass full of red wine.All in all, I really enjoyed myself and at the end it only comes to $62. It's definitely a good experience. I'll post the pictures later...
