Scarpetta

Critic's Review

My nephews came into town last week, and I treated them to dinner at Scarpetta. I gave them a list of restaurants and we didn't decide where to go until 2 days before; only to find they were booked on opentable.com until mid June. Somehow I got a reservation and we were all very excited about it.

We decided to meet up in front of the restaurant; I wanted to meet up 15 minutes before the reservation but my always-late nephew showed up about 2 minutes before. I wanted to have a drink at their nice bar before heading to dinner, but it was late and we wanted to get started.

I announced to the hostess that we were all there and we were seated in a nice booth 5 minutes later.

Celebrity Chef Scott Conant opened Scarpetta and although he no longer owns it, his recipes remain. It's a very nice restaurant with soft Sinatra-type music playing; this is a good place for a date or for catching up with family you haven't seen in a while. I had to ask for a wine list; which is odd because usually restaurants push the wine.

Bread service is complimentary. Nice buck basket with some spreadables.

My first taste was some plain bread that was quite ordinary. Next I tried the broccoli rabe Stromboli which needed none of the dipping sauces provided.

Simply scrumptious.

We ordered red wine by the glass and I suggested that we share/sample some of the signature dishes. I knew they'd just order a caesar salad and chicken marsala otherwise; so we ordered 3 dishes for the table and 1 entree each.

Two of the items are something I would never order in a regular Italian restaurant; perhaps 2 things I've never ordered before in a restaurant: Spaghetti with Tomato Basil sauce and Polenta. Two of Conant's signature dishes; I would have gone for the foie gras ravioli but I couldn't get the kids to bite. So we went with the short rib agnoletti.

First, the spaghetti. Sour-faced NYC critics have raved over Conant's tomato sauce; one calling it the best spaghetti in NYC.

We all liked it, but it was probably the least memorable item on the table. A well balanced sauce; perfectly cooked pasta, but it's still spaghetti with sauce. On to the polenta.

We had to practically force feed my older nephew, "Polenta" wasn't in his vocabulary. After coaxing him with "polenta is to grits as risotto is to rice; it's all in the preparation" he gave it a try. We all agreed it was awesome; a 3 hour soupy concoction flavored with truffled mushrooms that made you want to take another taste and then another. If I didn't have a veal chop coming I would have happily devoured the entire thing.

The agnoletti; essentially ravioli with a different shape, were also very good; a trifecta of goodness never achieved in a decade of living in South Florida.

For entrees, the boys both predictably ordered Chicken Marsala; I ordered the veal chop parmesan; once you open the wallet you might as well go big.

I didn't taste the marsala, but both dishes were cleaned before I'd finished half of my meal. The opinions:

Very Good

Unusually Good. Probably the best I've ever had.

I can't expand on that.

The veal chop was perfecto; Conant's sauce combined with the most tender veal chop I've ever had resulted in a near giddy dining experience.

We were too stuffed to even contemplate dessert. It was also getting late (our reservation was for 8:45 and it was well after 10pm and the kids were beat from the Travel Day.

Conclusion

Scarpetta is the kind of restaurant you only find in a big City; I won't say this was the best meal I've ever had, but it was the kind of dining experience you hope for when you decide to go out and spend some hard earned money. Take your girlfriend; take your Mom, Just Go. It's hard to imagine that you wouldn't enjoy it.