So with the economy in the crapper, I thought I'd take advantage of extended Restaurant Week, though in moderation, because you can only eat out so often. Friday night, I met up with The Sports Freak and we headed over to il Mulino.
The restaurant, like many in the downtown area is set as the ground floor of an office building. With modest exterior signage, we nearly passed by it. Walking in, you could see the New York accents, as it reminded me of dining in the great Big Apple restaurants. We were immediately seated, without menus and we found out that was intentional. They wanted you to have a good experience before you ordered. At the table, there was already marinated zucchini and some italian sausage slices. The zucchini was a good starter. I was unsure exactly what sausage was there. It was reminiscent visually of pepperoni, but the taste was much stronger and smokier. We were then served fresh bruschetta and a mussel. The bread was nice and solid, and the accompanying tomato mix was excellent. You could tell it was made that day, even maybe mere minutes before it was served. The mussel was perfectly cooked. All of this we were told, was complimentary and then we were provided the RW menu.
For appetizers, we both had the caprese salad. While I think it was good, I've honestly had better. For entrees, I had the Pappardelle with Sausage, and TSF had the Cannelloni. The pappardelle was a good pasta dish with sausage shaped into small "meatballs". I generally like pasta and sausage and this was good, but maybe a bit too meaty. I think a little bit less sausage would have made this much better. TSF is a freak about cannelloni. In the years I've known him, he has sampled the cannelloni in any fine Italian restaurant we've been to. He thought il Mulino's version was excellent.
For dessert, I had the Tiramisu. TSF had the italian style cheesecake. Unlike our experience just two days earlier, il Mulino has the dessert size right. The tiramisu was excellent and TSF said his cheesecake was very good as well. We thought we were done, but after they cleared our plates, we were served homemade grappa as a digestivo. It was strong, but added an excellent finish to the meal.
If this is how il Mulino treats their customers on a regular basis, I'll be inclined to go back again. They seem to know how to do Restaurant Week as all of these were found on their regular menu.
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