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| - We visited Francesca's al Lago on a cold Wisconsin Friday night. I'm not a big pasta eater, so I don't usually think of Italian food, but we wanted someplace close and it had opening on OpenTable so we decided to try it. I'm so glad we did!
We were seated promptly. There were a number of patrons,but it was not crowded by any means. It's a nice airy and open environment. They have a number of prints on the walls, but they had put holiday ribbons on each of them which I did find vaguely puzzling. I'm all for decorating for Christmas, but it made it impossible to see the prints.
We were served water and bread with Parmesan immediately. There's olive oil at the table to mix it with. Our waiter arrived shortly to take our drink order and help with menu items. I'm a carpaccio fan so we ordered that and our drinks while we perused the menu.
By the time we had decided what we wanted for entrees the carpaccio had already arrived. That was a theme here. Incredibly fast service. In addition to the waiters, there were runners who were bringing out your food and refilling the water and bread as soon as it was empty. I was impressed. I was also impressed by the carpaccio. Thinly sliced raw sirloin with hearts of palm, celery, capers, tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese shavings, lemon & olive oil. This may have been the best carpaccio I have ever had. Not only was it delicious, but I also felt there was a great portion for the price.
Francesca's has a different special each evening and on Friday it was the fish-fry. I loved it. White-fish, calamari, shrimp, and scallops all deep fat fried and served with french-fries. The fries were crispy and thin, just the way I like them. They could have used a little more seasoning, but were still very good. The dish came with a tiny bowl of Cole-slaw. I'm not a fan of mayonnaise, so I generally don't enjoy Cole-slaw but this was vinegar based and was again the best Cole-slaw I've ever had. I just wish there had been more of it. One thing I did find disconcerting was the presentation of this dish. It was served on a flat-paddle. That would be fine, except the fries kept falling off the sides. Still, I was very pleased. I thought the flavors and textures were all amazing and again it felt like a very reasonable price. My dining companion had gnocchi, which was also very good.
The service and the food both surpassed my expectations. I was very pleased with Francesca's. I can't wait to try it again.
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