April 12, 2012

Scarpetta

Dinner at Scarpetta has been a long time coming. It was my initial choice to celebrate my 31st birthday, but I put it off and we ultimately ended up celebrating at wd50 in New York City. A whole year went by and we never got over there. So, when it came time to celebrate my 32nd birthday, Scarpetta, it was.

I met Frank at Cosmopolitan after work. I made 5:30 reservations on Opentable, we had about 1/2 hour to kill so we played some video poker. Our losing streak remains. We have not won a single cent from Cosmo, I'm beginning to wonder if it's even possible. At least, the property has a nice roster of restaurants. That's what continues to bring us back after all.

We were the first diners of the evening, we were seated at a table for two overlooking the Bellagio fountains. However, when the fountain show actually began the we realized the view was quite obstructed from the tall trees surrounding the lake. It was no bother, we didn't come for the view, we were there for the food.

We started with a delicious bread basket, it had a variety of Italian breads and the real treat was stromboli with prosciutto and smoked mozzarella. Citrus olive oil, butter with marscapone and eggplant & tomatoes accompanied the bread. I could've easily made a meal from this, but I ordered the creamy polenta to whet our appetite.

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I've heard nothing but praises for this polenta. It was a beautiful dish. Luscious and full of truffle flavor, but it didn't leave me wanting more.

Next, we opted to skip the entrees and order selections from the secondini portion of the meal. Frank went with the Signature spaghetti. It's been featured on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" so it's hard to pass it up. I went with the duck and foie gras ravioli. It was the dish that made me lust over the restaurant for the past year.





The ravioli did not disappoint. It was the second best ravioli I've had to date. Mama Egi's ravioli over at Circo takes the cake. But this was very, very good. Well balanced and the raviolis seemed to melt on your tongue. The spaghetti was good, but hardly a best thing I ever ate. I enjoyed the simplicity of it, the al dente noodle, but $26 spaghetti should knock my socks off, it did not.

We weren't overly stuffed so we took a gander at the dessert menu and quickly chose zeppole for dessert.



Now, this was special! I'm not fond of dessert oozing with sweetness. This bordered on savory and I love it. These little pillowy bites were filled with nutella and topped with candied hazelnuts. There was a creme anglaise for dipping. It was a perfect end to the meal.

Service was very good throughout. Our server, Luis, was helpful and he made certain we did not go thirsty. Fresh iced teas were plentiful. The meal set us back $92. Pretty good considering one could easily spend and arm and a leg here.

Scarpetta (Cosmopolitan) on Urbanspoon

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