i'll be back!. dinner at cecconi last night was a blast even though we did not roll up in a rolls royce phantom, bentley continental, ferrari f430 or aston martin db9. toss in the fact that we were not joan collins or diane caroll, and i gotta say, we were treated a-ok for the most part.
cecconi's is gorgeous with a mediterranean vibe and open floor plan. the bar area was humongous and was constructed of solid marble. very well done, imo.
according to the hostess, cecconi's opened on monday 2/23 to a lot of hype. i was unable to obtain a reservation for a dinner meeting, however, my compatriots and i decided we would toss caution to the wind and walk-in to snag a table. i arrived at 7:20pm and placed my name on the walk-in wait list and waited....and waited...and waited.
however, our wait for a table went by fairly quickly in that the three of us chatted and people watched. i must say, cecconi's is rife with eye candy and monied folk. a couple phantoms pulled up, three bentley's, a few ferraris and a couple astons.....with older sugar daddy's at the wheel and a hottie youngin in the passenger seat. wow. awesome.
after an hour, we were seated at a quaint table that just fit the three of us. since my compatriots do not drink, we opted for sparkling water.....which took 10ish mins to arrive. doh.
our waiter arrived after what seemed to be 20mins and did not introduce himself.....another doh! he proceeded to ask about drink orders, which we declined. he began to walk away, at which point we accosted him to place our food orders. don't mess with hungry folk!!
app:
burrata w/ marinated artichokes: the first plate arrived and they did not remove the casing from the burrata. whoops. as i was picking out the creamy burrata, a second plate came with the burrata removed from the casing. the server stated: "the kitchen made an extra one for you guys by mistake...here you go." lols. the burrata itself was quite good, very creamy but a tad watery which i found to be odd. the artichokes did not have much flavor. overall, this dish was eh.
farmers market vegetables: this was a fresh gardensaladand was very good. thesaladis brought to the table undressed, and we asked for it to be lightly dressed, at which point thesaladwas taken to asaladstation where the chef dressed thesaladand brought it back to our table. the greens were very good and fresh. i recall broccoli, asparagus, endive, arugula and lettuce. i'm sure there were a handful of other greens that i missed. the dressing was a light vinaigrette and really brought thesaladtogether.
buffalo mozzarella pizza: we all deemed this to be the worst dish of the evening. the crust itself was quite good, however, the sauce was pure tang and very runny. there was a dab of mozzarella (literally the size of a dime) on each slice and a sprig of basil. the pizza fell short in the flavor department, well,...actually, it was tart as hell.
wild mushroom risotto: this was very good. the arborio rice was cooked very well and they did not skimp in the mushroom department. the creaminess was just right. i'd definitely order this dish again.
baked gnocchi w/ butter & sage: this was the winner of the evening. wow! it was rich without being too rich...does that make sense? the pillowy gnocchi popped with flavor and i swear these suckers were ooey gooey puffs of cheesy spilling goodness.
eggplant parmigiana: this dish was quite good as well. the eggplant was cooked well and was firm without being gooey. the saucier was a bit heavy handed with the sauce but all in all, the flavors worked well with one another. the kitchen haphazardly threw on a side of baby greens which looked out of place, so presentation was eh.
service during the night was off and on. first off, the server needs to introduce him or herself right off the bat. ours did not. he seemed a bit distracted and it felt like he wanted to rush off to other tables when we were still in the midst of ordering. weird huh?
dinner took a long time. we were seated at 8:30pm with our orders placed around 8:50pm. the app came out quickly. then there was a hiatus. then thesaladand pizza came out. wtf? shouldn't the app andsaladcome out together then the pizza. the staging of the food was definitely off. by the time we finished thesaladthe pizza was cold. boo.
after the thesaladand pizza, there was an even longer hiatus. at roughly 10:30pm, the risotto, gnocchi and eggplant dishes arrived. yep, from the time we sat down till the "mains" were served was roughly 2hrs. yowsa.
however, cecconi's does have potential. we all went in knowing that they are still working out the opening kinks and thus we had a pleasant time. however, i hope the kitchen, expediters and runners get into sync quickly as timing was totally off. and pizza guy, work on your craft as it is lacking......seriously.
i'll be back to try the meat dishes....stay tuned as cecconi's has a lot of potential!!!!!