Wow, this was a great experience! I dropped into Marcella's, a restaurant I've always enjoyed, but never really hit that sweet spot until tonight. I arrived a bit after 7, was offered a window seat by the pleasant hostess, and began to peruse the menu. My server came up and was very personable, laid-back, had a sense of humor, and offered to double check on the vegetarianness of my options when I mentioned my status. http://shortnorth.marcellasristorante.com/
I started with the Sicilian Sting $9, a twist on a tequila that was very tasty and potent. Ironically, it's the last thing that arrived, so it might have been lost in transit, but soon after I mentioned it, it appeared. Jose Cuervo silver tequila, amaretto, homemade lemon sour, and chipotle honey syrup. It was the perfect drink for a hot evening. The lemon sour really made it. 4.5/5
While I had hoped the window/doors might be open, under the circumstances it's just as well. The atmosphere is great: peppy, noisy in a festive way, wood floors, brick walls with arches, circular marble tables with cast bases, tin ceiling (no doubt partly why it's so noisy), soft white globes of light, backlit bar/wall of alcohol, fans lazily turning overhead, and an oil light my server noticed was out and replaced.
I have to say, another thing the server did right was ask before refilling my water. There's nothing that bugs me more than servers who whisk away your glass and slosh water into it before you've even had a chance to see what's happening. I like to have the feeling I'm making some progress, and having a bottomless glass of water is just exasperating. I know, pet peeve.
Just as I was thinking, "Hm, some bread would be good" my server approached with a small basket of really fresh, chewy, flour-dusted white bread. I proceeded to pour some olive oil from the pitcherette and added some fresh ground pepper and salt for flavor. This was a great start and ended up filling me up nicely with the rest.
A kitchen staff member brought the wrong appetizer, but it looked good. Turned out it was for the next table, after we worked out our confusion. Soon after he brought the calabrese potato small plate and my sunchoke escarole salad. This was the perfect pairing for the night.
The potatoes $5 were really flavorful, lots of garlic, the cheese set it off, and the peppers added just the right edge. It is described: roasted red peppers, lemon, olives, parmesan reggiano. I would make this if I could figure out the right flavors. 5/5
The salad $6.50 is one of my favorites in town: sunchoke, escarole, golden balsamic vinaigrette, toasted almonds, pecorino romano cheese. Freshness! I could almost taste the sun still on the leaves. The dressing was bright and lemony, and the toasted almonds perfectly balanced the other flavors and textures. 5/5
Alternating all the palate pleasers made for a very enjoyable dining experience and I ended up the meal satiated and nicely full. And if you follow my lead, use your bread to sop up the leftover dressing from the salad and the sauce from the potatoes. Delicioso!
Then he asked if I'd like to see the dessert menu. Pretty sure I should stop while I was ahead, I figured it couldn't hurt to take a look. Then I saw the profiteroles and ventured that if it had been this good, a sweet ending might be just the ticket. $6
I was right! Man, those guys are something else: pistachio, chocolate and honey vanilla gelato sandwiched between three round eclairs/cream puffs. They were covered with a gooey rich, thick dark chocolate ganache and dusted with powdered sugar. So, just when I thought it couldn't get better, I was proved deliciously wrong. Run in and get these now! The server said they have their own pastry chef, and it shows. Yum!
Glowing inside, I meandered out the door and decided to take a leisurely walk around Goodale Park to walk off this meal while the hazy yellow crescent moon hung over Columbus this warm September evening.
Cameron Mitchell strikes again! 5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment