Ooops, oops! I'm sooo far behind, this week has been a whirlwind, I can't believe it's already Friday and you haven't heard from me since Tuesday, oh no! Have you missed my Fromagical musings?? I know I've missed writing to you dear readers. So let's play catch up!
On Wednesday's sunny June afternoon, I sat down to lunch with old friends and family at the centrally located A Voce Madison right off of Madison Square Park, one of two branches of the modern Italian restaurant. At the helm of both restaurants is the Executive Chef, Missy Robbins and her dishes focus on seasonal ingredients, carefully prepared pastas, and regionally sourced fishes and meats, with a definite Italian bent.
With a lovely outdoor seating area, one certainly could not pass up sitting outside and enjoying the beautiful early summer weather today, that's for sure. Granted, the locale of our seats was not ideal -- there was an awful odor eminating from the restaurant building.
Moving away from the scents, lets discuss our meal which was delish, refined, and wonderful cuisine!
We started with an appetizer of their classic Ricotta dish (served for free at Avoce Columbus in a smaller portion, however not so here...) -- it is basically a small terracotta dish full of ricotta, olive oil, thyme, chili flakes, and mint served with grilled bread. A great sharing dish and a yummy way to start any meal. Also, a really easy dish to make at home. However I would not recommend making it with store bought ricotta, you need fresh homemade ricotta.
Moving along I split two of their appetizers for the rest of my lunch meal:
The first of these two apps was a roasted mackerel with mandarins, fennel, capers, and pistachios. A small sliver of fish placed beautifully on a dish with the salad of mandarins, fennel and capers underneath and pistachios spread around the plate. Sweet, savory, salty, and ulitmately so satisfying in such a small package.
The second app I split was their roasted trumpet royal mushrooms, fonduta, truffle, and hazelnuts. A richer, more decadent dish yet also presented in a small package and a great example of Robbins skill at taking simple ingredients and dressing them up and making them into something else entirely. That in my opinion is what makes Avoce great -- basic ingredients, lovingly prepared with a dash of Italian influence and a sprinkle of seasonal local influences as well.
It is sure worth a visit to either Avoce Madison or Columbus, however make sure to not sit all the way at the Park Avenue end of the outdoor seating, you might be in for a very odorifious meal.
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