January Saturday at Incanto

Took a friend to Incanto for her birhday. She and her boyfriend aren't big eaters so we ordered a bit lighter than usual, then ended up pigging out on dessert.

Movia sparkling rose (100% pinot noir), even better than the brut

amuse of chicken liver pate on toast

appetizers:
- olives
- beet and orange salad
- shaved fennel and apple, wonderful idea
- new potato and beef tripe salad
- lentil soup, light and simple

Palari Rosso del Soprano (nerello mascalese & nerello capuccio)

pastas:
- bigoli all'Amatriciana, killer thanks to the housemade guanciale
- handkerchiefs with boar ragu, good but not as unctuous as the usual pork
- maccheroni spinati with chard, pine nuts, & currants

Valle dell'Acate Cerasuolo di Vittoria 2002

secondi:
- Sardinian shellfish stew
- "Il Peposo," beef stew (Google "Peposo Brunelleschi" for the story)

Ca Rossa Brachetto 2003

desserts:
- rice pudding tart
- "macchiato mousse," mocha mousse with a layer of cake topped with whipped cream and served in a coffee cup, best new chocolate dessert I've had in a while, the cake layer's a stroke of genius
- ginger marsala cake with ginger compote
- pear crostata with a sweet gorgonzola sauce, incredible flavor combination though the pastry needed work
- grapefruit-Campari sorbetto, perfect cleansing taste to end the meal

That sorbetto reminded me of Barolo chinato so I ordered a glass and it was a great pairing.

No panna cotta! The pastry chef wanted a change.

Thanks for your report, Robert. Apps sounded pretty basic (except for that tripe salad), but the rest of the meal sounded appealing to me. Mousse and crostata sounded great.

Questions:
1) What is the shape of bigoli pasta?
2) Can you elaborate on the rice pudding tart in terms of what it consisted of and how it tasted overall?

Thanks.

Bigoli's a long extruded pasta, something like fresh spaghetti, traditionally made with whole wheat flour.

I forgot I stuck the dessert menu in my pocket:

- rice pudding with mace-infused caramel & blood orange (actually I think it was just in a mold, not a crust)

- chocolate macchiato mousse with cocoa nib biscotto

- ginger marsala cake with apple compote & spiced creme fraiche

- bosc pear crostata with port reduction & gorgonzola dolce semifreddo (wasn't a sauce, it melted before I got around to trying it)

- Campari-grapefruit sorbetto with candied citrus