"Tonight will you be drinking bottled still water, Italian sparkling, or... tap water?"
Before we even glanced at the menu, we were forced to define ourselves to the server. I found this quite tacky and would prefer that a restaurant take a more subtle approach to this, perhaps increasing entree prices by $2 or $3 and offering bottled water - sparkling or still - carte blanche.
Anyhow...
My first visit to Sotto Sopra was in college, when the recruiter at The Sun took me out for a farewell lunch at the end of my internship. I look back on my former life as a newspaper reporter with much fondness, and feel nostalgia at most anything that I can connect.
I've been back a few times and on Friday, when I needed to choose a place to celebrate the birthday of a person who hadn't eaten anything buy plain rice, applesauce, and Gatorade for four days, I picked Sotta Sopra.
This Italian place has chic-chic decor and lies on the Charles Street corridor that also includes Ixia, Helmand, and a few others - one of my favorite perks of living in Mount Vernon. The menu has everything from the basics to more creative fusion items, and it's always pretty delicious.
We started off with fried calamari, which was quite good. The server told us the calamari is fresh, and I could taste the difference. Mixed in with the squid were the thinnest shaves of green and yellow squash - also delicious. The dish is served with a spicy marinara sauce and a wasabi sour cream. The tomato sauce was tasty but the wasabi was a bit too heavy for either of us to enjoy.
Birthday boy - who came down last Monday with a nasty virus and spent the week eating a sick person's diet - ordered a duck-stuffed ravioli sauteed in butter and sage and covered in a truffle reduction sauce. Very flavorful and hearty, but this dish might be better shared or served as a side offering. The sauce was incredibly rich and - although it was finished - made the dish in my mind a bit too much for a stand-alone entree. Perhaps it would be better atop a bed of sauteed spinach or swiss chard.
Last time I ate at Sotta Sopra, food envy kicked in over H's Papardelle Sotta Sopra - so after a difficult run through the menu, I went for it. The restaurant makes a perfectly thin sheet egg pasta, served with a light tomato sauce and pockets of smoky fresh buffalo mozzerella. Simple, but delicious. I thought there was perhaps a bit too much sauce - it was nearly soup - but I was very pleased.
For dessert we shared a liquid-center chocolate flourless cake. I don't normally appreciate chocolate, but of course, knew not to insert an opinion about dessert on someone else's birthday. But this was phenomenal - there wasn't a hint of sugary sweetness to mask the cocoa flavor. It was rich, but not too rich. And, a delightful surprise - it was on the house.
Despite the irritating water question, I thoroughly enjoyed Sotto Sopra and, as it's in the neighborhood, will definitely return again and again. I certainly reccomend it as an alternative to Little Italy's offerings and as a highlight of Mount Vernon restaurants.
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