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| - In the past few weeks I've eaten at Joel Robuchon in Las Vegas, John Besh's Domenica in New Orleans and Seryna in Tokyo among many others, so I was definitely in gourmet mode as I ate at Scarpetta in Toronto.
Firstly, the restaurant is beautiful and everything you'd expect for fine dining. The wait staff were pleasant and attentive.
I started with the Creamy Polenta with truffled mushrooms, which is noted as a must have - it is. It's hard to get any better. I then had the duck and foe grais ravioli drizzled with balsamic and spaghetti with tomato and basil. The ravioli was good, though I was left wanting more foe grais flavor - the balsamic was a great touch. The spaghetti was outstanding, especially considering it is the middle of winter and fresh tomatoes would not be coming from an outdoor local garden. As with the polenta, it's simply very difficult to get much better than this spaghetti, which was simple, elegant and perfectly executed.
I went in fully expecting to get the chocolate cake dessert that has been reviewed so highly. The waitress talked me into the coconut panna cotta with guava soup & caramelized pineapple and I'm glad she did - fantastic and nice and light after a good meal.
Scarpetta is an excellent restaurant. In overhearing conversations at other tables, I did note that the Monday night clientele were young and often inexperienced in their comments. Perhaps, they are responsible for giving this fine restaurant the lower than deserved reviews in the past.
I would go back and I would recommend.
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