I won't take away from my friend Josh Lurie's review of Il Grano, but we did eat this meal together, so I'll just put my tint on it. First off, I found Il Grano to be a very elegant and pleasant dining room, where dim lighting offsets clean white table covers, pristine stemware and flatware, and supportive chairs (a must). We were here for the tomato menu, comprised of 41 varieties grown in Chef Sal Marino's personal garden. Tomatoes are his passion and diners benefit through this superb menu using these delicious varietals.
I started with a half-glass of 2007 Arneis, currently one of the most popular white wines in Italy. It was refreshing, crisp, but rich in the finish. A good aperitivo as well as pair with our first few courses.
First course was a crudo of Japanese yellowtail and three scrumptious smaller tomatoes. It was a light, refreshing, tart beginning to the meal. Chef Marino's specialty of crudo was easily transparent in this dish.
Santa Barbara spot prawn is a favorite of mine in SGV's seafood palaces but this grilled rendition had an amazing texture and aroma, paired with meatier tomatoes. The arresting presentation made me want about eighteen additional servings but more palatable dishes awaited.
I'm a stickler for risotto, mastering a few recipes of my own. This version was superb though the lemon verbena pesto was a bit cloying. I avoided it while consuming the small pile on my dish. The eggplant cannelloni couldn't have been a better presentation of perfect tomato sauce. I could've had an entire meal of this dish as well. The sauce was fresh, deep in flavor, and perfectly seasoned. Chef Marino could sell that at Whole Foods.
A compilation of fresh Italian breads staved off any immediate hunger from the small courses. Textures, aromas, and flavors abounded and made us eager for the final few courses. In between Chef Marino came to our table on multiple occasions to see how we were enjoying the meal. In fact, he was pacing most of the dining room. I like to see that involvement from the chef, knowing it's taking care of both the front and back of house.
We ordered rabbit and fettuccine in our last course. The hearty fettuccine carried a slightly sweet but rich sauce and complemented the roulade of rabbit stuffed with olives. The rabbit meat had some cartilage that had to be dodged while chewing, but the flavor was great. Neither too gamey nor dry, it was the best rabbit I'd had in a while. Fried basil and stuffed cherry tomatoes rounded out the dish. The sommelier recommended a nice 2005 Burgundy to match the rabbit. Swirled in the wide glass, the refined nose of the wine lent greatly to an enhanced flavor while eating this course.
Desserts were a triumph. I found the sorbets/gelato to be well executed. Celery and tomato were a little weaker in flavor but the mascarpone was amazing. The huckleberry panna cotta had a supreme texture and the gelee on the top carried the intense flavor of the farm-fresh huckleberries that Chef Marino had acquired at the farmer's market.
4 comments:
Sounds like a great meal. Who doesn't love homegrown tomatoes? :)
I've been meaning to hit up Il Grano for some time since it's so close to my apartment. Your meal looks tasty, but were you full? It doesn't seem like very much food.
yeah, homegrown tomatoes are pretty hard to beat. there was a whole article recently in the LA Times about fanatics that grow thousands of tomatoes in their yards.
Aaron, I was actually full from the meal, but not terribly full. The bread serving helped, but one more course would have been enough for me. I'm not a very big eater so it doesn't take much to get me full. You should go before Oct 1, when the tomato season is over.
Wow the food looks great. The presentation was impeccable. I was sold when I saw that they have a great risotto!
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