Booked six months ahead and went last night! It’s the second night of serving this menu – inspired by cuisines around the globe. Massimo stopped by and spoke with everyone, super nice and talked about the fine art in his new acetaia (a Kehinde Wiley tapestry just chilling among the grape must barrel). Overall a great experience (though I’m not super experienced with fine dining so it was disappointing to have around 3 dishes that were misses). Interesting to have such a global fusion menu – it prompted me to ask if I’d prefer Massimo’s take on these dishes to the originals and his did not always come out on top (particularly the South American, Chinese, and French) but I appreciated the concepts for what they were and the Italian influences.
We did the tasting menu for 320 euro each, one glass of wine each with the mains, two bottles of still water, and espresso to finish – 785.41 total. Note – you cannot dine solo! I tried when I thought my friend had canceled and no go.
Breadsticks served alongside until the Indian and Mexican course which had sourdough bread, both good but not incredible.
Started with four small items –
East meets west – nori, smoked fish (trout?), and caviar on the left, a “club sandwich” in the middle, and Il Toro on the right but it’s a cracker with paprika and a meat paste inside, missed the details. Next slide is think green, the pea soup with miso and kombu served alongside.
The caviar was the best bite of the night! Club sandwich had too much bread but such a fun experience to have a guinea fowl (?) terrine leave behind the precise taste of a club sandwich and the bread was delicious. The cracker was just all paprika and not snappy – did not love. The soup was quite oily but fairly refreshing.
You say Tomato I say Tomato…and bread – Then the “bruschetta” – this got me so excited. Tomato gelee, toasted bread ice cream, tomato crumbs, olive oil, gold coated crackers. Just a fun way to do it! Maybe a little too much bread flavor but loved the textures.
Tra Le Ande e il mare – his South American inspired take on ceviche was beautiful but quite flavorless – raw cuttlefish underneath sliced vegetables. Second least favorite of the night.
Da Gragnano a Bangkok – Omg this Thai take on spaghetti was so homey and comforting and delicious – perfectly cooked and coated with tomato and coconut sauce. So simple, so fun, so tasty even if it looked a bit silly.
Year of the Dragon (l’anno del drago) – The Chinese dish was grouper with a green and red kimchi sauce, rice crisps and a peach sauce in front. This was not good – no flavor from the red and green sauces, grouper was over cooked and chewy, liked the peach sauce but couldn’t save it, plating wasn’t great. Also – kimchi Chinese? My least favorite – fish seems to be a weak point.
Tandoori – Tandoor lamb with pickled vegetables, yogurt sauce and reduction – incredible, perfectly cooked, flavorful, fine dining A+
Holy Mole! – Beans and spinach with three kinds of mole – not sure if it’s typical to have a veggie main after the main meat dish, thought it was a little odd. The moles were delicious (the chocolate one in particular) but I wished they were with meat. The texture was a bit too one note.
Focaccia o tatin? – this didn’t feel much like French tart in – delicious focaccia with jam and truffle. The focaccia toppings were a great transition from savory to sweet but the truffles had zero flavor. Not even a fan of truffle but odd to use such an expensive ingredient with little payoff.
Fregula – well done humble dish from Sicily, dot of porridge made of small pasta, honey, comforting filling and still transitioning from savory to sweet with eggplant underneath.
The Keys of Italy – Granita with lemon and capers – the salt on this was just too much – it couldn’t be a palate cleanser because of the strong flavors and it was already melting at the table
“Key lime pie” – Japanese cheesecake with candied lettuce on top – loved this! Fluffy texture, just enough sweetness, super crunchy lettuce
Macedonia of fruit – excellent petit fours in the shape of fruits, not the most convincing illusions but each was full to bursting with flavor and the thinnest shells. Pineapple, coconut, tomato, banana, and raspberry (more complex than that but essentially)
Got a bottle of massimo’s balsamic as a gift on the way out.
Overall wouldn’t go back (price wise it feels once in a lifetime and there were a few too many misses) but it was incredibly cool, service was great, fun and inventive concepts. Massimo was so nice!
by LatterGrocery