match - best restaurant in sono. i have to say this was my first visit back to match in three or four years and i was not disappointed.
the first thing i noticed when i walked in was the gigantic, very modern looking, wood fired oven in the back of the restaurant. i am not sure if that was there a few years ago but it immediately cemented the fact that i was going to try one of their appetizer pizzas. they took the "if you build it, they will come" approach to pizza. my girlfriend and i decided on the forest pizza (pesto, spinach, mushrooms, goat cheese and mozzarella) a combination of flavors that just works, along with the thin wood fired crust, fantastic! the other appetizer that caught our eye was the short rib nuggets accompanied by a spring roll filled with mashed potatoes on top of a dollop of a tangy greek yogurt sauce. the short ribs were covered with a rich flavorfulsauce(pomegranate seeds garnished the plate, so i'm sure it had something to do with the sauce) and were fork tender, very good starter.
for the main course i had a hard time deciding between the sirloin steak on a bed of bistro fries (which sounds awesome by the way) with creamed spinach and the veal osso bucco which is a menu item that buckles me at the knees every time i see it. as you can tell...i went with the osso bucco and it was everything i wanted it to be. the veal melted in my mouth and kept getting better with each bite (a prime characteristic of a great dish). there was a rich beef/tomato basedsaucewhich covered the plate and made it the perfect comfort food on a somewhat cold january night. the veal was placed on top of a parmigianino risotto which added a creamy/starchy element to the plate giving you something to sop up the extra sauce. my favorite part of the dish had to be the marrow bone. a tiny lobster fork was sticking out of the bone which can only mean one thing, eat what's inside! and it was delicious! thesaucemade its way inside the bone and you could really get a sense of where the real flavor of the dish lied. i could not have been happier with my choice and i will struggle to pick a different option next time if it is still on the menu. for the record, my girlfriend got the squash gnocchi which she was pleased with but after tasting them myself i was underwhelmed and happy with my choice. just to show you what kind of guy i am i offered her as much osso bucco as she wanted but she only wanted a taste…score for #1 ha.
the only complaint i had about the meal came with dessert. our server had notified us when we first ordered our appetizers that they had three desserts that needed extra time, therefore we should order them before or during our entrée. i'm sure this is commonplace in most restaurants and i completely understand that the kitchen needs the extra time but at the time we just were not in dessert mode. our only desire at the moment lay deep within the pizza / short ribs and then with our entrees. so we decided against making a binding decision to get either the chocolate soufflé, chocolate chip cookies or the apple cobbler and would take our chances with the rest of the dessert menu. unfortunately i think we made the wrong decision. the rest of the dessert menu was very sparse; it consisted of three other minor desserts: gelato, tiramisu and something called the doughnut muffin. of course at this point in time we were on the fence about all three of them and didn't want to wait for one of the desserts which could take another twenty minutes and we decided on the odd culinary creation known as the doughnut muffin. it was pretty much what it sounds like…a doughnut muffin, a muffin covered in cinnamon sugar accompanied by a brandy caramel dipping sauce. not the best dessert i have ever had but it was a good end to an overall very good meal.
the atmosphere was hip and lively without an empty seat left in the house. i don't see this restaurant going anywhere anytime soon and i will not put another three years in between visits.
ciao,
john