| rev:text
| - I'm feeling generous today and one of the reasons is the fantastic dinner I had at Chinato on Saturday night. Of course before arriving I read a number of Yelp reviews and did my research online with regards to a lot of the dishes on the menu that I may not have understood being put on the spot at the time of ordering. I can honestly say that early preparation made a big difference, even our waiter Brian was impressed as he was prepared to give us a 5 minute instructional run down of the menu.
So....drinks...ahhh....Alison (pregnant) really wanted a sip of wine so I ordered a Cab blend that was recommended by Brian. The wine was great with everything that we ate, even though we didn't properly pair it, both the dishes and the wine held their own so intertwining the flavors was not even on my mind.
Our strategy going into the dinner was to not overeat as we were heading to a hockey game afterward and needed to make room for some arena-fare. I thought that getting an appetizer, small pasta to share, and two dinner entrees would suffice, Brian whole-fully agreed. So...here is the breakdown.
App - Supplì al telefono $7.00 - Yelp recommendation and a terrific one!! We both absolutely loved these risotto balls. Already planning to come back just to sit at the bar and get these. Risotto, seemed tomato basil based, rolled, deep fried, and rolled again in what I believe was Parmesan dust.
Pasta - Linguine with baby clams, calamari and scallions $9.00 - This was just OK. I thought the calamari was overcooked and a little rubbery, but the tentacles were fine. I also believe the noodles were al dente, could have used a little more time on the skillet. Broth was butter, lemon, wine, clam sauce? based but was good with the bread that is continually brought to your table. I will get a different pasta next time.
Dinner (Jeff) - Chicken Legs "saltimbocca" style $17.00 - Phenomenal comfort dish! I absolutely devoured this thing. It's basically two seasoned chicken legs slow roasted, bone removed, stuffed with cheese, and flash fried to crisp the skin. These legs were then placed on a bed of kale, polenta, and some sort of sauce / gravy that went perfectly with the dish. All this topped with another green that I couldn't remember, too much dinner bliss at this point.
Dinner (Alison) - Stuffed Swordfish with olive paste $20.00 - Alison and I both really enjoyed this dish. It was more of a stack then a stuff. Bottom layer was deep fried polenta, next layer was grilled swordfish, then arugula, olive paste with kalamatas, another sword filet, and then topped with a little drizzle of a sauce, balsamic it seemed, and some greens. This dish went beautifully when tasted together or separate. I really loved the flavor the grill gave the sword, nicely seasoned. Would definitely get again. The olive paste doesn't make it too salty, just know that its there before you order.
Desert - None Needed
Overall - Great dinner, period. Service (Brian) was always attentive but never annoying, waters always full, dishes cleared properly (time and fashion), the atmosphere was comforting / fun, and all in all I thought the bill fit the dinner perfectly. Under $100 for what we both agreed were totally fantabulous meals, those that deserve a made up word like fantabulous. So stop hesitating, its not as dressy appropriate as you might think. There is always the bar area with tables that seem a little more laid back. Not at all what either of us expected but in a very good way.
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