frasca

[rlm]

I think we can declare The Great Meatball Experiment of ’05 a success. The Frasca folks were nice enough to split one order of the meatball up five ways without us requesting it (they brought us each out individual little bowls with a portion of the meatball, brodo, salad, and potato puree). CheeseMonger liked the meatball the best without the accompaniments, whereas fml chimed in that all of the flavors combined tasted the best. My sense was that the general feeling of the group was the meatball was good, but perhaps a bit much as a full entrée. CheeseMonger was the biggest fan, declaring her “love” for the meatball. (But do you love the ball o’meat as much as Roger Ebert? Huh? Do ya?)

 

We started out with tajuts of Tocai (and Prosecco for moi). Mongo had the polenta and the risotto. Lisa had the shaved leg of lamb and the gnocchi. Fml had the duck pate with a sweet onion relish and the gnocchi. CheeseMonger and I both had the lamb with the Sinskey Merlot. Desserts were a couple of cheese plates and some chocolate gelato along with Picolit and Vin Santo and ??? (not sure what beverages were on the other end of the bar where Mongo was holding down the fort).

 

We got to “peep” the July Food & Wine with Lachlan in it thanks to Cheese’s friend Michael.

 

fml, I hope you made it out of my neighborhood without any problems. The suburban soccer mom gangs are not to be meddled with.

[fredbram]

The big question is--what did you think of the meatball Mongo? Different then last time? Better? Worse?

 

I believe that they are closed from July 1 through July 10, but don't quote me.

[fml]

fml, I hope you made it out of my neighborhood without any problems. The suburban soccer mom gangs are not to be meddled with.

I managed to dodge the neighborhood rowdies, but then found myself lost in the twists and turns of Flatirons and Interlochen, and did one of the grand tours of roads that didn't exist the last time I was in the area. But, it made me realize that I sent Lisa on her way with "better directions" based on a mental map I have of the drive to Evergreen from the mid '80's. I hope she's not still wandering lost in the hills of Golden.

 

There was also a Lychee (ice?, gelato? what did they call it?) dessert that got unanimous approval.

[TheMatt]

I believe that they are closed from July 1 through July 10, but don't quote me.

Thanks, fredbram. I'll give them a call to make sure.

 

Glad the dinner worked out well for all. I'm especially interested in how special guest Lisa liked it.

[omnivorette]

How far ahead do they take reservations? I need to plan my October trip. (I realize it's too early to reserve for October, but I want to know when I should make a note to call them...)

[fredbram]

How far ahead do they take reservations?

60 days ahead.

[mongo_jones]

The big question is--what did you think of the meatball Mongo? Different then last time? Better? Worse?

fred, i thought it was better than last time, but would still have had a hard time eating a whole one--a 5th seemed just enough. talked with bobby about it. he told me what he told you: that sometimes it gets a bit too salty. then again apparently some people love it so what are you going to do? thanks to you and robin and cheesemonger the frasca people now address me as mongo (he remembered the conversation about the meatball with you). i think i may as well change my name officially.

 

my polenta was excellent; the risotto was also very good--interesting flavors. we were sharing promiscuously down at our end of the bar (we also cleaned off the greens from robin's plate--apparently she doesn't eat her greens). lisa liked all my food--fml was hesitant about the risotto. i liked all of lisa's food--she got the gnochhi as her entree. she said she didn't know if they were really gnochhi--i seem to remember saying in an earlier post that they reminded me more of indian alu-tikkis--but whatever they are, she said, they're excellent. she got the lychee shaved ice as her dessert. this is new on the menu and this is what i am getting for dessert the next time i am there.

 

the cheese plate (cheeses from cheesemonger's place of work) was excellent as always.

 

as excellent as the food was, the highlight of my evening was finally meeting lisa.

[mongo_jones]

(But do you love the ball o’meat as much as Roger Ebert? Huh? Do ya?)

just a different kind of ball of meat. i hear he's not as salty as he used to be though.

[TheMatt]

i think i may as well change my name officially.

Well, I think you should. You would be the only Mongo, student, prof, or other, in the CU directory. And all your students would get some cred taking a class from Prof. Mongo. The "Blazing Saddles" comments might get annoying. Now, there is a Prof. Mongo in Dallas, so, we'd have to boost you in PageRank to get you to the top of Google.

 

The lychee ice seems to be getting raves. I'll have to try it if I can get in on the 29th. In re the "meatball" is it like a Lion's Head Meatball in size? Or even larger?

[CheeseMonger]

First, no picking on my boyfriend.

 

Second- Robin's description was dead on. In order to get tastes from Mongo's plate (we were on opposing ends), I was forced to get up, walk down the bar, shove him out of the way and insert my new squeaky-clean spoon into his risotto.

 

I really liked the risotto- nice and savory with *bing* cherry! That's the taste- *bing* when you bite it- the contrast was fun and tasty.

 

I only stayed a little longer and visited with my friend until his take-out arrived. Yes, he does take out from frasca, the kitchen, everywhere. He's a funny guy.

 

and omni- they are on opentable, but it's best to call direct, as I think only a couple of tables are on the opentable lineup, and those are restricted to 5:45 and 9:00 availability.

 

and no, in case you are wondering, I did not get the cheeseplate, just a glass of the Vin Santo.

[fml]

In order to get tastes from Mongo's plate (we were on opposing ends), I was forced to get up, walk down the bar, shove him out of the way and insert my new squeaky-clean spoon into his risotto.

 

Now, I on the other hand, had the perfect seat for sharing, with Lisa and Mongo to my left, and rlm and cheesemonger to my right. I could just swivel and reach, and passed dishes had to come my way. The service was remarkably accommodating, with a real sense of humor and working with our, face it, rather bizarre requests; We're in Colorado's trendiest, newly awarded and celebrated restaurant, ordering a meatball with five forks. As rlm said, they were

nice enough to split one order of the meatball up five ways without us requesting it (they brought us each out individual little bowls with a portion of the meatball, brodo, salad, and potato puree).

When I said that I was having just one glass of wine, I was offered the option of having tajut size pours so I could try different wines with different courses. Our server convinced me that even though I thought I wanted a red wine with my gnocchi (Lisa and I both wanted red paired with the gnocchi), that I should taste the white (I don't remember the names of any of the wines I drank, sorry), and if I didn't enjoy it, he would pour red. When I thought the white wine tasted sweet and like grapes, he took the glass from me, and poured a red.

 

The meatball? The taste was okay with the greens, broth, and potatoes, but I wouldn't order it.

[TheMatt]

You know, reading over your adventures, I'm beginning to wonder if a non-alcoholic like me should eat at the bar. Do you think they'd mind, or would they prefer drinkers there?

[fml]

You know, reading over your adventures, I'm beginning to wonder if a non-alcoholic like me should eat at the bar.  Do you think they'd mind, or would they prefer drinkers there?

As an "I'm having a single glass of wine" customer, the service I received was attentive and gracious; it could not have been better. I'd say you shouldn't be concerned in the least. C'mon, they not only didn't mind the meatball in five parts, they treated us as honored guests.

[fml]

You know, reading over your adventures, I'm beginning to wonder if a non-alcoholic like me should eat at the bar.  Do you think they'd mind, or would they prefer drinkers there?

There were four of us (mongo, me, rlm, cheesemonger, in order of appearance) milling at the door when they opened. There are six seats at the bar. When the doors opened, we (the four of us) said we wanted to sit at the bar, and were expecting one more person. We were seated at the bar, and were told (rlm or cheesemonger, would one of you supply the names of any/all of the people at Frasca who served us? I'm getting tired of using the passive) that they would remove the 6th seat, the bar was ours for the evening, unless a single without a reservation who wanted to eat dinner came in, in which case, that single who wanted dinner would be seated. As far as I can tell, they don't seem to think it important that there be drinkers at the bar.

 

edit to add: After I said that my wine tasted like a sweet grape, our server unceremoniously poured that wine down the drain, and poured another glass of a different wine for me.

Edited June 9, 2005 by fml

[CheeseMonger]

What fml said- it was Bobby that offered to remove the 6th seat in order to let the 5 of us have the whole bar- which I though was very nice, because then Mongo didn't end up with 2 people trying to sit in one seat at the end of the bar.

 

Matt- the beauty is that people eat at the bar all the time. It's pretty expected. If you don't want a drink, don't have one. I'm sure that you will receive the same gracious attention that alcholics like myself receive. This bar isn't a "drinking" bar, it's an overflow/don't have reservations/eating bar.