Domenica Report
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:33 am
It's been a while since I posted a report, so I figured I'd share my experiences from last night's dinner at Domenica. We had relatively early reservations (6PM) since both of us work on the Southsore, and we arrived at the hotel around 5. Not wanting to be quite that geriatric and eat at 5, we went to the Sazerac Bar and had a couple of drinks. The bar is very nice, in a grand way. My wife had a glass of champagne, I wanted to order a cocktail from their menu so I settled on a "French Quarter" which was Grey Goose Pear Vodka, Pear Nectar and Jalapeno Syrup. It was very good. After a couple of drinks we made our way to the restaurant around 6:15.
When we were seated there were maybe 4 tables in the restaurant occupied, which was kind of a surprise to be honest. Our waitress brought us a glass that held 4 or 5 foot long baked bread sticks (which were pretty good) and a chilled 1 liter bottle of New Orleans' finest "house water" as she called it. We each ordered a glass of wine, which has a surprisingly good selection of by the glass wines. We also ordered a pizza to start off ($13), the "Peporanata" which was roasted red & yellow peppers and goat cheese. It was fantastic. The red sauce was light, sweet...tasted like it was just fresh tomatoes and a little olive oil. I could go back and get a pizza and a glass of wine and have a great little meal.
Our next course was a cheese & salumi board. We only chose three selections ($12) because we knew we were ordering a bunch of food. We chose a parmigiano reggiano, a goat's milk cheese called Brunet and a house made hard salami. They were all very good, the Brunet was our favorite. The cheese board was served with two plates, with three sections each. There was candied fruit that had a horseradish/wasabi kind of heat to it, a cumquat/fig marmalade, and a nut bread. The guy who dropped them off said those three paired best with the cheeses. The other three was a kind of grilled ratatouille, a mortadella mouse and some pickled vegetables. All of it was good, and this course also came with what I would describe as Pancho's sopapillas without a sweet component. I didn't really like them, to me they tasted like grease. It was a ton of food for $12.
Next we had small plates of pasta, me choosing the tagliatelle rabbit ragu with porcini mushrooms ($12) and the wife picked the spaghetti with olive oil, garlic & parmigiano ($7). Both were pretty good, but nothing cosmic and we'll try something else for the pasta course next time.
The "main" course if you want to call it such a thing for me was the small fritto misto ($15), which was a fried mix of shrimp, calamari, soft shell crab, fish sticks & codfish balls (seriously), and vegetables. The calamari was the star, followed by the shrimp and the veggies. The crab was clearly burnt, and I didn't care for the fish sticks or codfish balls. It was a ton of food, and I can't imagine ever needing the large version of the dish. The wife had the paneed veal served with arugula and lemon ($21), which to me looked and tasted much like a caesar salad. It was very good, served with two big pieces of veal. I'd definitely order that again.
For dessert we split a ricotta cheese cake which was served with pistachios and a lemon cream ($8). It was very good.
All in all we enjoyed the meal very much. It's not very adventuresome, and the food seems pretty rustic but I think that's what they are going for. The food was all good (with the exception of the burnt softshell) but not cosmic. I think the pizza stood out the most, and we'll definitely by trying more of those in the future. What also stood out to me is the prices. We could have easily made a full meal out of the pizza, which is a least a 12" job, and the cheese plate and been out of there for less that $30 pre-tax/tip. I like that almost everything is available in small or large portions, too. We'll be going back soon. Almost forgot to add that by the time we left around 7:45 the place was packed, not an empty table in the house.
When we were seated there were maybe 4 tables in the restaurant occupied, which was kind of a surprise to be honest. Our waitress brought us a glass that held 4 or 5 foot long baked bread sticks (which were pretty good) and a chilled 1 liter bottle of New Orleans' finest "house water" as she called it. We each ordered a glass of wine, which has a surprisingly good selection of by the glass wines. We also ordered a pizza to start off ($13), the "Peporanata" which was roasted red & yellow peppers and goat cheese. It was fantastic. The red sauce was light, sweet...tasted like it was just fresh tomatoes and a little olive oil. I could go back and get a pizza and a glass of wine and have a great little meal.
Our next course was a cheese & salumi board. We only chose three selections ($12) because we knew we were ordering a bunch of food. We chose a parmigiano reggiano, a goat's milk cheese called Brunet and a house made hard salami. They were all very good, the Brunet was our favorite. The cheese board was served with two plates, with three sections each. There was candied fruit that had a horseradish/wasabi kind of heat to it, a cumquat/fig marmalade, and a nut bread. The guy who dropped them off said those three paired best with the cheeses. The other three was a kind of grilled ratatouille, a mortadella mouse and some pickled vegetables. All of it was good, and this course also came with what I would describe as Pancho's sopapillas without a sweet component. I didn't really like them, to me they tasted like grease. It was a ton of food for $12.
Next we had small plates of pasta, me choosing the tagliatelle rabbit ragu with porcini mushrooms ($12) and the wife picked the spaghetti with olive oil, garlic & parmigiano ($7). Both were pretty good, but nothing cosmic and we'll try something else for the pasta course next time.
The "main" course if you want to call it such a thing for me was the small fritto misto ($15), which was a fried mix of shrimp, calamari, soft shell crab, fish sticks & codfish balls (seriously), and vegetables. The calamari was the star, followed by the shrimp and the veggies. The crab was clearly burnt, and I didn't care for the fish sticks or codfish balls. It was a ton of food, and I can't imagine ever needing the large version of the dish. The wife had the paneed veal served with arugula and lemon ($21), which to me looked and tasted much like a caesar salad. It was very good, served with two big pieces of veal. I'd definitely order that again.
For dessert we split a ricotta cheese cake which was served with pistachios and a lemon cream ($8). It was very good.
All in all we enjoyed the meal very much. It's not very adventuresome, and the food seems pretty rustic but I think that's what they are going for. The food was all good (with the exception of the burnt softshell) but not cosmic. I think the pizza stood out the most, and we'll definitely by trying more of those in the future. What also stood out to me is the prices. We could have easily made a full meal out of the pizza, which is a least a 12" job, and the cheese plate and been out of there for less that $30 pre-tax/tip. I like that almost everything is available in small or large portions, too. We'll be going back soon. Almost forgot to add that by the time we left around 7:45 the place was packed, not an empty table in the house.
