Mucci’s Italian - January 25, 2016

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I finished writing this, with the exception of this top blurb and linking some dear friends’ Instagram images before I went to dinner tonight (February 18th, 2016), because tonight I’m eating dinner at Mucci’s real home. I didn’t want to push it out before service because as much as I’m a customer, a consumer, I also consider a lot of chefs friends. I don’t want to stress out my friends over something I write, and I want to be honest. Any criticism I give is meant to be constructive, anything I say about how I’d prefer it is just that, how “I” would prefer it. I’m just a guy that eats a lot and writes about it for practice for another project I slowly work on.

Italian is an interesting cuisine to me and the side project I’m working on because it’s the only cuisine I know of personally that has a thematic element of texture that so thoroughly pervades it that there’s a phrase for it. “Al dente” or “to the tooth” is an Italian construct that surprisingly has an etymological history only dating back to the mid or mid-early twentieth century. Regardless if it’s 66 or 81 years old, the phrase is now ubiquitous and has been borrowed by many other languages and cuisines.

Texture is important to people that wear dentures, or those too young to have teeth. It’s also really important and one of the last hopes for eating enjoyment for those that no longer have a sense of taste. I lost my sense of taste for a while in 2012 (I got it back), but I’d been considering the ramifications of what that might do to someone whose career was focused on taste for at least a year longer than that. I’ve also met a few folks that lost their sense of taste and they confirmed they go for textures now - yay vindication. So I’m writing about that, slowly and surely, all about texture, sometimes without taste. That’s why I focus on it.

About the lasagna below, Kat said it reheated wonderfully the next day with a good texture, so I’m sure it was just a fluke, everything else has been amazing. (That’s a spoiler about tonight’s meal too.)


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Amuse - Meatball & Mucci’s Sauce: Amazing texture, awesome flavors. I foresee this combo being the basis for a lot of dishes. I’ve been dreaming of a meatball sub made of these since I first experienced one.

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(Kat’s Pic)

Course One (1) - Meat & Pickle platter of Mortadella, Duck Liver Pate, Cranberry Mostarda, Pickled Veg, and Deviled Eggs: Pickles were good, the mostarda was a great foil to the minerality of the liver. 

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(Kat’s Pic)

Course One (2) - Frito Misto of Fried Clams, Oysters, and Calamari, accompanied with Chili Aioli and Arugula: So good, excellent rendition of the classics.

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(Kat’s Pic)

Course Two - Mushroom Bisque: I don’t usually swear in these, and I won’t, but know what I mean when I say this dish is effin’ amazing. Probably tied for my favorite soup I’ve ever had.

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(Kat’s Pic)

Course Three (1) - House Salad of Fresh Greens, Vinaigrette, and Locatelli cheese: Totally solid salad.

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(Kat’s Pic - Andrea’s Pic)

Course Three (2) - Montanara (fried dough pizza) Norma with Potato Sauce, Salami, and Mozzarella: I love the texture of this type of pizza, the preparation of the crust nearly guarantees a uniformity that can usually only be found in places that have ovens with some sort of conveyor belt. My only caveat about this first iteration of toppings was that I personally think it could have used a touch of garlic in the potato, but it was still very enjoyable. I can’t wait to try all the toppings that Chris & Kenzie come up with.

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(Kat’s Pic)

Course Four - Lasagna aka Layers of Love: I think the flavors on this were amazing, but I personally wonder about the texture, the noodles were a little more done than I like, but I’m going to give this a lot of tries regardless because I think the flavors are on point and I don’t know if maybe I’ve just been having undercooked lasagna my entire life. I could see this growing on me regardless.

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(Kat’s Pic)

Course 5 (1) - Pork Cutlet with Picatta Sauce: So, so, good. In my notes I’d written “sickly good” borrowing parlance from the ever receding past.

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(Kat’s Pic)

Course 5 (2) - Brussels S(p)routs a la bomba with Tonnato and Preserved Lemon: Probably in my top 3 preparations I’ve had.

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(Kat’s Pic)

Course 6 - Chocolate Budino with Olive Oil Gelato and Pistachio: A great dessert that makes me curious to what else will be on the menu.

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Milkjam Creamery - January 24, 2016

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Scena - January 22, 2016