Gusto

I admit that I am new to this whole blogging thing so I don't know what the time frame is between when you eat at a place and when you should blog about it. My guess is that the so oner the better, while the tastes are still fresh on your tongue, the buzz is still easing it's way in the dollars you spent are still be deducted from your debit card.

Gusto was my boyfriend's choice for our 1 year anniversary, and I applaud him for taking me somewhere I haven't eaten which isn't impossible, but can be intimidating. He wanted to surprise with somewhere romantic and Italian since recently I've pronounced that I simply LOVE Italian restaurants. I think I go through phases were I adore a specific region, along with their wine and allure and they say funny things like "oh, i LOVE italian food" until I go to that one restaurant that has nothingon it but fried everything, pounds of cream sauce and if lucky, one salad option. So I guess it's the NEW NEW italian that i like, the modern take on clssic dishes or modern cooking of classic dishes.

Getting back on track, let's talk about GUsto. I'll seperate this review into a few categories and give each restaurant I write about a glass of wine. 5 glasses being the best and 1 glass being the worst. For really bad restaurants, i'll rate them in beer. HAHA, just kididng, there is nothing wrong with beer, unless it is a Coors LIght and then really, seriously, it should not be drank with dinner.

DECOR - wine wine wine (3 glasses) The chandaleir int he center of this room was my favortie thing about the restaurant. It hung over the center like a elephant stepping out onto the social scene, shining and glittering and HUGE. You couldn't eat without staring up at a few times and wondering, how much did that thing cost? The overall decor was just modern, sophisticated and clean. I really like the private dining downstairs and my second favorite thing was the smell of the bathroom.. reminded me alot of the Luara Mercier creme brulee lotion which is to die for.

FOOD - wine wine (2 glasses) Don't get me wrong, the food was good but it was nothing that you haven't tried before. It's a nice add to the neighborhood, I like the area and the decor but the food is just simply well done modern cooking of italian dishes we all know and love. The best dish was a pasta ragu with yummy tomato based sauce and veggies. I ofcourse didn't order the pasta (hello, size 26 here trying to maintain) but i did indulge myself to try a few bites from the hubby. We also ordered to appy's, the beef carpacicio with grated thinly sliced parmigiano which was really nice and quite refreshing .. Again nothing out of the ordinary but a nice healthy'ish dish that is was tasty. And also another salad that had pears and frisee and other stuff that I can't remember, (it wasn't that memorable). But then again, if you're not getting Caprese, the salad isnt' the first thing you think of when you go italian. I had a grilled Sole with spinach and lemon, and it was perfectly light and breezy. Like on every fish I eat, I squeeze the lemon out like it's the last one on the planet, but i just love lemon. For purposes of this blog, i've now been trying the fish before i squeeze the lemon on it so it doesn't lose flavor. The wine list was robust as well, lot's of wines available by the glass.

I'd say this is a great place to go on a date or for an intimate dinner conversation with freinds.

10 Downing Food and Wine

Let me start with the pretense that I LOVE brussel sprouts. It's almost an unnormal addiction but I cook brussel sprouts as much as 3 times a week. Not to the happiness of my boyfreind who was used to eating big mac's before I came along and is now eating yummy fresh greens and cabbage family foods on the reg. Well.. 10 downing has some of the best brussels' I've tried ever. They are slow roasted and super soft like they have been getting juicer and juicier every minute knowing that I would LOVE them that way. The best part about the brussels' is that they have a quail egg on the side and you use the qual juice (love to say that now) and spread the quail juice all around the brussels. They were incredible! I would have ordered 3 and called it a night.

My freind Juliana had the Black Bass which looked also quite awesome and I had the chicken dish with preserved lemon. It was served with yummy chicken juice saoked croutons. LIke who could have imagined something more delicious than, let me repeat "Chicken juice soaked croutons"! Seriously, did they like get in my wet food dreams and then put that on their menu!!!?? Yes they did.

The wine was also delicious, we had a beaujolais, fruity and lovely at the same time. I had 3 glasses of it and wanted morreee..

Decor was fabulous and location was perfecto.. just one block away from the west 4th street train stop and a corner place. I have a thing for corner restaurants, i just decided they need to step up their game since they take up two streets!

All around, the service was great too with a nice coat check girl, which I always appreciate. Who want's to give your coat to someone with an attitude. Oh, and the bathrooms smelled incredible.

Go go go! Totally average pricing, nothing that will break the bank. Unless your bank is say Washington Mutual.