I dunno who started the tradition of the "First Paycheck Dinner" in my family. Somehow it went from, "Oh, gee whiz a nice dinner on your tab? How nice!" to "Dude, where's my 'first pay check dinner'? I'm waiting...I'm waiting!!" I can't even remember what dinners I was treated to by Smooth Obturator and Triple F. I remember Triple T treated us to brunch at the St. Regis in Monarch Beach. Anyways, my time has come and our family has expanded to include Dumpling Man and his parents. It seems like we've done many of the nice restaurants in LA, Providence, Osteria Mozza, Bazaar, etc, so it was sort of a struggle to find a real gem of a restaurant that was gonna be worth the money and really impressive. I settled on Drago Centro, but my Smooth Obturator didn't have many great things to say about it.
L'insalata Di Barbabietole All'agrodolce baby beets, warm goat cheese, pine nuts, chile vinaigrette
I've only had 1 really bad beet dish, otherwise they're always pretty tasty. This was no exception. Sweet beets, tart dressing, spicy bitter greens. It's always nice when nuts are added for texture and some sort of cheese for creamy richness.
La Burrata burrata, endive, basil pesto, crostini
Good, but I've had better burrata. Somehow this didn't achieve that luscious milky creaminess I've experienced in the past. It tasted too much like a wet lump of soft cheese.
Il Fegato Grasso foie gras panna cotta, pistachio, currants, pears
A savory take on what is normally a dessert dish. The foie gras tste was quite subtle and overall it was quite a light airy bite. There was some strange sponge cake textured green thing which must have been the pistachio. I approve of the creativity here.
So I'm not usually one that makes complaints and demands food to be re-made if over salted or under seasoned. I just eat and bitch about it later here, but somehow we all made a big deal about how the pasta dishes were all lukewarm if not border on cold. Mama H.o.P. cannot stand food that is not piping hot, so of course all the pasta was sent back. Fortunately, they were speedy in providing round 2.
I think we got cheated here because I only saw zucchini and not zucchini flowers. But I guess the real star was the jumbo lump crab which was fresh and sweet and actually worked well with the light but spicy tomato sauce. The pasta was a little too delicate for my taste but still good.
Le Pappardelle al Fagiano pappardelle, roasted pheasant, morel mushrooms
This pasta was more substantial and held up well against the earthy umami combination of pheasant and mushrooms.
La Bisteca Per Due bone-in rib eye for two, cipollini onions, cauliflower, brown butter fonduta
Who was the genius who order 2 orders for the bone in rib eye for 2? Even though there were 8 of us, it was a whole ton of meat we weren't prepared for.
The meat was a perfect medium rare. It had that delicious salty caramelized exterior and of course the eye was the tastiest part. The accoutrements were just OK, but kept with the earthy comforting theme of the dish. I don't think I was able to enjoy the meat because I was just so damn full and overwhelmed.
Il Branzino branzino, spinach timbale, almonds, soppressata vinaigrette
Italians sure know how to do branzino. Everyone really liked the fish. It was moist, flakey, with a delicious crispy skin.
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