frasca

[Chezhoff]

Hey Frasca-ites:

 

We're going to Frasca next Monday for dinner and I am hoping that somebody has an idea of who the winemaker is and what the menu might be? The last update on the site is from dinner way back on May 22nd.

 

Thanks,

 

Brian

[TheMatt]

To Mongo and chezhoff, you might want to clear your caches. I'm seeing a June 20 Dinner and June 19 Monday Dinner menu.

 

Sadly, I see that the Monday dinners can now screw over vegetarians. I'm disheartened that they got rid of the usual one meat/one veg format of previous Monday menus (at least the Jaymes dinner was like that). Even it is selections from another restaurant's menu, it would have been nice to see them keep the format.

 

At least there seems to be one primi item on the regular Dinner menu for vegetarians this time. That said, they really love fish-and-soup combos. Shrimp here, anchovies at the dinner Robin went to...

[joiei]

How far is Boulder from Westcliff? I will be staying there for a few days and was wondering if it was doable for dinner one night to go to Frasca.

[TheMatt]

How far is Boulder from Westcliff? I will be staying there for a few days and was wondering if it was doable for dinner one night to go to Frasca.

Oooh. Westcliffe as in Custer County near Pueblo? If so, that's a good 180-200 miles. So it'd be a 4 hour trip each way, I imagine.

[CheeseMonger]

How far is Boulder from Westcliff? I will be staying there for a few days and was wondering if it was doable for dinner one night to go to Frasca.

Oooh. Westcliffe as in Custer County near Pueblo? If so, that's a good 180-200 miles. So it'd be a 4 hour trip each way, I imagine.

 

 

Yeah, Matt's right. I plugged it into my Route Planner, and came up wth 173 miles.

[Chezhoff]

To Mongo and chezhoff, you might want to clear your caches. I'm seeing a June 20 Dinner and June 19 Monday Dinner menu.

 

Sadly, I see that the Monday dinners can now screw over vegetarians. I'm disheartened that they got rid of the usual one meat/one veg format of previous Monday menus (at least the Jaymes dinner was like that). Even it is selections from another restaurant's menu, it would have been nice to see them keep the format.

 

At least there seems to be one primi item on the regular Dinner menu for vegetarians this time. That said, they really love fish-and-soup combos. Shrimp here, anchovies at the dinner Robin went to...

 

Thanks Matt, I can see the 6/19 menu now. Just need them to post the 6/26 one!

[TheMatt]

Soooo...Messrs. Mongo and Chezhoff, how were your dinners? Good, bad, indifferent?

[Chezhoff]

Soooo...Messrs. Mongo and Chezhoff, how were your dinners? Good, bad, indifferent?

 

Overall, incredible as usual...here's a ranking of the dishes we had:

 

Tie for '1st place':

 

- the 'Canederli - bread and garlic dumplings, carmelized, with savoy cabbage and pancetta....wow, very good flavors, the dumplings had a great texture.

- the shaved leg of pork w/ pancetta (it was a very 'porky' night - a good thing by my estimation) and cherries, fingerling potatoes....the meat had very intense flavor, was very tender

 

3rd place:

 

- the 'frico caldo', hadn't had this before...basically triangles of mashed tater w/ a parmesan crust (sauteed) with an herby vinaigrette...simple goodness

 

4th place:

 

- the apricot and ricotta tart - simple, filling better than the crust. They also offered a desert of a bowl of (giant) Western Slope bing cherries

 

5th place:

 

-the risotto w/ english cucumber, cantaloupe, and ricotta salata...interesting flavor, very summery...a bit odd to my taste...I'm not a huge cantaloupe fan...only one person in our party of 6 had this.

 

Last place:

 

-the soup - a vegatable puree with sorrel and something else (that I can't remember) green over a grilled shrimp salad (just a small amount of this)...fresh tasting, but kinda of like 'puree de lawnmower clippings' to my taste...didn't love this. The shrimp salad was good, would've liked more of it.

 

The salumi, olives, and almonds were as good as always.

 

Wine was great...one of my dining companions owes me the list...we had 3 bottles...a tocai friulano, an italian white blend, and a California Pinot...Bobby picked them all for us and they were a hit. The wine flight was all riesling and, while I/we like riesling, decided that 6 of them was a bit much (and we wanted red w/ the pork).

 

Great service as always.

 

Thanks,

 

Hoff

[TheMatt]

Well, I'm here to report. As stated, TheMatt had his bday dinner at Frasca tonight.

 

We started out with olives-and-nuts. I don't do olives, but the parents were loving them, and I also don't really do nuts, but even I liked the spiced cashews and peanuts (and heard the almonds were good too.)

 

After that, the frico caldo (see here for the recipe with the Traminer). Essentially this is the best hash browns you will ever eat.

 

Then came the entrees. I had the 21 orders which was a tagliatelle with mortadella, pistachios, and a Montasio sauce. So, macaroni and cheese with bologna and nuts (the nuts were unnecessary, but that is true in every instance with every dish known to humankind). But probably the best macaroni and cheese I've ever had. My mother had Mr Long's shaved pork loin which was, of course, good. And my father had the risotto with spinach and pickled ramps. It good three.

 

Finally, for dessert, I had scoops of lychee and blood orange sorbet. Both good, but the blood orange was probably my favorite. My father had a scoop of vanilla ice cream. My mother went for the dark chocolate brownie with the frozen malt. Very chocolatey was the brownie, but the malt was probably even better. Well, except for the fact that they didn't use enough malt. The correct proportion of malted milk to ice cream in a malt is 1:1. Or 2:1.

 

There was also wine had by the parents. I don't see the reason for drinking rotten grape juice so I can't say much there.

[rlm]

There’s a Frasca Pizzeria and Wine Bar in Chicago now:

Link

 

Okay, this is getting weird. Now there's a place in the Frascans' old stomping grounds (Bay Area) that is opening as La Frasca:

 

Scala, Don Giovanni chef Scott Warner and manager Neno Giovanni are opening La Frasca, a 200-plus seat enoteca, or wine bar. Scala says La Frasca refers to a leafy branch hung outside small restaurants and farmhouses to signify that a new batch of wine and food was being sold.

[mongo_jones]

Soooo...Messrs. Mongo and Chezhoff, how were your dinners? Good, bad, indifferent?

 

i do need to report on our last dinner. got caught up right after that in our move. it was an excellent meal. more details to follow.

[rlm]

So where's the review, Professor?

 

I'm psyched that they are re-opening Monday after their "We're Having Fun In Italy and You're Not" closure. Mr. rlm is going to miss out since he will be in San Jose.

[mongo_jones]

well, these reviews are getting a little monotonous. it was excellent as always.

 

we were with another couple, colleagues both. bobby and lachlan were off at some food event or the other but clearly the kitchen fires on all cylinders with lachlan gone. nate was working the room and benjamin was helping him out as sort of assistant sommelier/maitre'd. but, of course, it isn't the same without bobby making everyone feel like they're the most important diners in the room.

 

as always, we were welcomed with generous pours of the tocai friuliano. two of us got the excellent kampachi crudo to start, one got the canerdeli (there is very little chance that mrs. jones will order anything else to start while this is still around), one got the zlikrofi (or however it is you spell it). everything was pronounced excellent. nate recommended the dr. h. thanisch riesling (2002?) with all our apps and so we got a bottle. and he was right. for mains two of us got the veal and two of us got the shaved leg of pork. rhapsodies all around. we asked nate to choose a bottle for us and he brought us a tuscan sangiovese. i was pleased later to note that he didn't take the opportunity to order on our behalf from the high end of the list (if you want to know what it was look in the sangiovese selection of their wine-list; it was the $65 bottle).

 

our colleagues don't dine here often but they'd apparently had a very bad dessert experience on their last visi--to the extent of sending their desserts back--and so they agreed happily to my suggestion that we share some cheese and sorbets. this was done. not as good as when cheesemonger was around but not bad. some port and other liqueuers were also consumed.

 

the one slightly off-note was our server. she's very nice, but the few times we've got her she's never been as natural as benjamin (who we're always happy to see) always is. something a little stiff about her demeanour--plus she wasn't very good with the cheese descriptions.

 

we return on aug 4. hopefully, lachlan will have returned with some new things and will have worked them out by then.

[CheeseMonger]

 

and so they agreed happily to my suggestion that we share some cheese and sorbets. this was done. not as good as when cheesemonger was around but not bad. some port and other liqueuers were also consumed.

 

--plus she wasn't very good with the cheese descriptions.

 

 

 

Is it wrong of me to be secretly pleased that their cheese had suffered in my absence?

Probably, but I am.

[rlm]

well, these reviews are getting a little monotonous. it was excellent as always.

 

Yeah, I couldn't possibly review them every time I go in. Isn't it great to have such "monotonous" perfection though? The more places I go 'round the globe, the more I appreciate them and all the little things they do.

 

bobby and lachlan were off at some food event or the other..but, of course, it isn't the same without bobby making everyone feel like they're the most important diners in the room.

 

I'm guessing they were at either the Aspen F&W Classic or Telluride Wine Festival when you were in. And yes, Mr. Bobby Stuckey definitely has a unique gift with people. He should bottle it and sell it. Even David Lynch from Babbo was praising him the night he was at Frasca. He was part of the "sommelier's challenge" at the Aspen Classic & I asked if he had to go up against Bobby. He said no, but that he couldn't beat him anyway! The room definitely has a different energy when he's there, but he's got some great people on his team like Benjamin that "handle the keys to the Ferrari" very well in his absence.