Perbacco

On the other hand, Perbacco lived up to the hype. Mr. Food Musings and I popped in for lunch yesterday. (It was meant to be business-slash-pleasure with some friends-slash-colleagues, but plans changed and I dragged him along to keep the reservation.) Every bite we took was impeccable, from start (batons of crisp breadsticks in a kicky salsa verde) to finish (damn...we skipped dessert. That would have been more poetic than espresso.)

Since I don't have much that's new to throw on the pile of praise Perbacco has been getting, I don't think I'll do a full-on review. How about a quick summation of why I liked it instead?

Atmosphere: Nice, but nothing terribly innovative to report. The space is open and airy thanks to a big window up front and high ceilings on one side of the dining room. The other side is crowned by the mezzanine. There's an exposed brick wall (yawn), a long bar with some comfy looking bar booths, and nice creamy linen tablecloths. The noise level was reasonable and overall it was pleasant, if a touch boring.

Service: Friendly, prompt, efficient, even witty at times. Two thumbs up.

Food: Yummy! Seriously, it's rare -- not pearl-in-an-oyster rare, more like perfect-hair-day rare -- that we eat an entire meal that both Mr. FM and I agree is flawless. Regardless what the food is, be it soup and sandwich or steak frites or a fancy-schmancy tasting, it's always impressive when you just wouldn't change a thing. I ordered a salad of pears, endive and blue cheese. Boring, in that it (or its variation) is on 90% of the menus in town. But after an exemplary such salad at Antica Trattoria, I've decided this salad is a fair barometer for a restaurant: if done right, it's a good omen of things to come. It's also just the thing to order if you aren't overly hungry, as it is fairly light, being composed largely of fruit and lettuce. At Perbacco the salad was beautifully plated: stacks of pears draped one over the next, small curls of endive thrown hither and yon along with some toasted hazelnuts, all dressed in a just-sweet-enough chestnut-honey vinaigrette with a mondo wedge of blue cheese balanced off to one side. It is one of the few dishes I can recall that made me wish I had a camera. Nothing earth shattering, just very pretty. And the flavors were great: the pear, a perfectly ripe, in-season specimen; enough bitter endive for balance and crunch; a mildly pungent blue cheese. Delicious. Mr. FM's grilled calamari salad looked good but I didn't fancy a bite so all I have for proof is his empty plate. As an entree, I chose the tajarin -- thin ribbons of housemade tagliatelle noodles with pork sugo. The sugo (which translates directly as "gravy") is cooked for 5 hours, which means the pork and the tomatoes meld together gently, slowly becoming one. Namaste and all that. I kept feeling like I tasted a delightful soupcon of butter, either on the noodles or in the sauce, which managed to be meaty and luscious without stopping my heart mid-beat. Mr. FM's Ligurian tuna salad -- a sort of Italianate Nicoise -- was lovely. I wish I had the secret to the dressing; it was creamy and tangy and just the right touch for the hunk of barely cooked tuna, gigante white beans, cucumbers, and hard boiled egg. (Can you tell who is the health nut in our family? Yeah. It ain't me. But then, my thighs could have told you that.)

As our waiter noted when I wistfully passed on dessert -- the caramel gelato with black sea salt was definitely made for me -- all the more reason to go back.

Comments

[ann]

wow! that place sounds good. Have you been to Incanto and if so can you compare the two?
Thanks.

[Catherine]

Hi Ann, yes, I have been to Incanto. Here's the link to the write-up I did. You will definitely get more unusual, imaginative food at Incanto. I prefer the atmosphere at Perbacco, which also had better service on our visit. The food at both is impeccable.
http://foodmusings.typepad.com/food_musings/2005/05/recipe_roundup_.html

[sam]

Actually the caramel gelato with black sea salt was clearly just made for ME! It's safe and sound tucked up inside my tummy as I write this.

Perbacco is nothing like Incanto in my mind.

Thanks for the rec Catherine - we enjoyed it and Fred LOVED it off the bat. It's not often he is so pleased. He can't wait to go back.

I would not say the food was totally impeccable (disappointingly my celery salad, on the side of the short rib main, was withered and brown and limp instead of crunchy), but other than that most every thing was very good indeed.

[Catherine]

I am dying for a bite of that gelato! Good to know it's worth a repeat trip. I am disappointed that they didn't knock everything out of the ballpark for you...the celery salad sounds most unappetizing.