The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about this restaurant is the service. We sat at the bar for a little bit before going to our table and the bartender was very helpful and professional. He offered us a tasting from a bottle they had just opened. The wine list was pretty extensive and included glasses and bottles from my favorite winery, Chateau St. Jean. We ordered their 2005 Cinq Cepage and it was 25% off wine night Wednesday. Definitely a treat!
Once at our table, we ordered two appetizers to share between four people - the Il Piatto di Salumi con Pane e Olive and the Pomodoro e Mozzarella. The first was a traditional Italian cold cut plate with toasted bread points, salty chunks of Parmesan cheese, and two types of olives. I wish I knew all of the meats but the ones I could pick out were prosciutto, a salami, and what we guessed was capocola. They were all good so we didn't bother asking. The second appetizer had fresh heirloom tomatoes (both of the men asked what they were because they'd never seen a yellow tomato before) and fresh Burrata cheese, which is a creamier version of fresh mozzarella. It brought me back to a hike that I took on the Amalfi coast of Italy that was capped off with a caprese salad.
The entrees were equally appealing. I ordered the Pappardelle con Coda di bue - hand cut fresh pasta with oxtail ragout, pine nuts, porcini mushrooms, and Tuscan Pecorino. I'm a sucker for fresh pasta and the pappardelle is a thick cut; like fettuccine but thicker. I was nervous about the oxtail but it was decadent. The pine nuts added a nice crunch and for me, nothing can go wrong with mushrooms.
I tried the other two dishes at the table as well (my husband and my friend, Doug, ordered the same thing). The guys got Michael's pasta. It also had fresh pasta (spaghetti) with Prosciutto di Parma that seemed to be cooked a bit so that it was pleasantly crunchy, pecorino, tomatoes, garlic, onions, and basil. This was also very pleasing. It tasted like it had sun dried tomatoes in it but maybe that was just the taste of tomatoes that were fresher than I'm used to.
The best dish at the table though was Jessica's. She ordered the Lasagna Verde alla Bolognese. It had spinach that didn't overwhelm the dish in any way, meat sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, and a creamy tomato sauce. One bite had my mouth doing the happy dance.
My husband and I shared an apple tart and Jessica and Doug shared the cannoli. Both were good but not mind blowing.
This restaurant has great ambiance for a fancy night out and is priced moderately (with a good bottle of wine and all of the food mentioned above, we spent $50 per person). If you're looking for huge portions of mediocre food, don't go to Michael's. The portions are smaller than most American restaurants but definitely substantial and the food is wonderful. Check their website for specials. Their bar menu looks intriguing and their happy hour is half off selected beer, wine, and alcohol. There's a rooftop deck with classic guitar Wednesday through Friday however it had just finished raining when we went so it was shut down.
Our meal ended with a visit from a man dressed in a suit (the manager or the owner) who checked to make sure everything was good.
(I apologize if I misspelled any of the Italian words in this blog.)
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