The Mrs wanted to celebrate S's B-Day so we decided to have dinner at Cafe Sistina. Why Sistina? Well S arranges a lot of work dinners as part of her job so the Mrs wanted another venue that would make dinner seem like work to S. And Cafe Sistina never hosts these dinners and since our last visit was several years ago, why not now? We started with some vino rosso or a 2008 Bussola Ca'Del Laito Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore or basically the juice of Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara run through the mar (grape pulp) of Amarone (the same grapes aged on straw mats for 4 to 6 weeks to concentrate their flavors) so a Ripasso can either be considered a poor man's Amarone or a Valpolicella Plus.
With this wine we sampled the Large Antipasto Misto platter with frittata, proscuitto, salami and smoked fontina.
We also indulged in the Funghi con Polenta or crimini and porcini mushrooms in a Gorgonzola cream sauce on crisped polenta triangles. This dish was the star especially with the bread to sop up all of that Gorgonzola goodness.
We then progressed to the entrees which included the Penne Arrabbiata from Grandma's Classic Kitchen
The Venison Ragu on Pappardelle from Chef Mitrotti's Cutting Edge Kitchen. Very nice ragu though I wouldn't be able to tell you it was venison if I didn't know any better.
And the Wild Boar Sausage with Gnocchi in a Barolo and porcini sauce. Sweet sausage but once again, if I didn't know it was boar, I would have guessed it was a nice pork sausage.
We also had a 2011 Quattro Mani Montepulciano d'Abruzzo with the past courses.
The girls still had room for dessert so we sampled the Cabernet Blueberry Sorbetto
The Kona Coffee Gelato
And the Molten Chocolate Cake - like combining warm fudge sauce and warm chocolate pudding. It was KILLER!
So after a several year hiatus for a re-visit (it's difficult when Vino is our go-to restaurant), Cafe Sistina didn't disappoint and it's nice to know that they still got game!
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