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| - I've said before, fine dining is generally not my thing, however, on special occasions I have to "man-up" and go to an Italian restaurant fancier than the Olive Garden or Bucca di Beppo. New Year's day was one of those days. Put on the shiny shoes, fill the wallet with crisp Benjamins and off we go to Carbone in the Aria.
We got seated in a cozy red velvet booth. This is the kind of booth the waiter has to tuck you in with by pushing the table around. I planned on having adult beverages later in the evening, so I didn't want to make myself comatose with food (or carbone-load). Fortunately, Carbone has plates, which aren't filled with a pile of food. This was fine with me. We dined on the following food components:
House salad - very good (Italian dressing)
Beets Siciliana - very good (good as a plate to share)
Spicy Rigatoni Vodka - very tasty (with a tiny amount of heat / medium size dish)
Tortellini Ragu - tasty (cheese filling, the ragu is creamy - a relatively small dish)
Bread basket - good (a mix of breads / gratis)
Parmesan cheese chunks - For cheese lovers (gratis)
Sliced salami - very good (gratis)
White wine and a fancy wheat beer (with a name I can't remember) - as expected (and necessary)
Overall, the restaurant operated with a high level of precision. The wait staff was great. The head waiter (or possibly the Captain who was named Chris) was knowledgeable and very serious about his business. Our waiter, Keith, was serious until you broke him down a little. Underneath, he proved to be a regular guy who completely understood the need to delicately balance food intake with the need to leave room for after dinner adult beverages. Everyone treated us well. Everyone bid us farewell. I'd certainly go back (maybe just having a couple of small plates at the counter bar along with the salami and bread). Our bill for two (including tip) was about $150.
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