colleency
03-16-2005, 01:16 PM
I went with a large group to Rae's Place last night (522 South Pacific Coast Highway, Redondo Beach 310-543-5100).
Our first course was a warm artichoke, garbanzo, and pistachio salad. OMG! This was so tasty. Even though I knew the pistachios were in there, you couldn't see them, and they were a tasty surprise when you found them. It was a warm salad, and the "lettuce" was the artichoke.
The next course was Bacatini al Amatriciana - Large spaghetti served with a pancetta and onion and lightly spicy tomato sauce. I normally don't order spaghetti in restaurants. After all, you make spaghetti at home. I would definitely order this again. The large spaghetti was hollow in the middle, sort of a long, thin macaroni. The sauce was fantastic! I think there were bits of meat in it, but I don't know what kind. There was plenty of shaved parmesan to go on top. I really wish I had leftovers of this for my lunch today, but I slurped it all up. Oh, and if you're trying to be elegant (first date, white shirt, etc.), don't order this. It was very hard to spike on the fork, and it was slightly too bulky for really wrapping around the fork.
Then we had Stracotto di Agnello con polenta - Melt in your mouth tender lamb shoulder braised in an aromatic sauce with polenta. The lamb was really good and incredibly moist but a little fatty. I don't like the texture of polenta, but one of the people I was sitting with assured me it was divine, so I sent my portion home with her.
For dessert we had Grandmother's Apple cake. This was akin to a rather dry bread pudding with apples and a tiny scoop of ice cream. It was good, but I think I would have preferred it to actually be bread pudding and have that wonderful moistness.
At the end of the meal, I decided that the meal would have been wonderful and just the right amount if we had the salad, the spaghetti, and the dessert. Although I imagine that the portions of the spaghetti would have been larger if you had ordered it as your meal, rather than the prixe fix menu that we had. Hmm...leftover Bucatini al Amatriciana.
This food was 70 gazillion times better than Buca di Beppo!
Our first course was a warm artichoke, garbanzo, and pistachio salad. OMG! This was so tasty. Even though I knew the pistachios were in there, you couldn't see them, and they were a tasty surprise when you found them. It was a warm salad, and the "lettuce" was the artichoke.
The next course was Bacatini al Amatriciana - Large spaghetti served with a pancetta and onion and lightly spicy tomato sauce. I normally don't order spaghetti in restaurants. After all, you make spaghetti at home. I would definitely order this again. The large spaghetti was hollow in the middle, sort of a long, thin macaroni. The sauce was fantastic! I think there were bits of meat in it, but I don't know what kind. There was plenty of shaved parmesan to go on top. I really wish I had leftovers of this for my lunch today, but I slurped it all up. Oh, and if you're trying to be elegant (first date, white shirt, etc.), don't order this. It was very hard to spike on the fork, and it was slightly too bulky for really wrapping around the fork.
Then we had Stracotto di Agnello con polenta - Melt in your mouth tender lamb shoulder braised in an aromatic sauce with polenta. The lamb was really good and incredibly moist but a little fatty. I don't like the texture of polenta, but one of the people I was sitting with assured me it was divine, so I sent my portion home with her.
For dessert we had Grandmother's Apple cake. This was akin to a rather dry bread pudding with apples and a tiny scoop of ice cream. It was good, but I think I would have preferred it to actually be bread pudding and have that wonderful moistness.
At the end of the meal, I decided that the meal would have been wonderful and just the right amount if we had the salad, the spaghetti, and the dessert. Although I imagine that the portions of the spaghetti would have been larger if you had ordered it as your meal, rather than the prixe fix menu that we had. Hmm...leftover Bucatini al Amatriciana.
This food was 70 gazillion times better than Buca di Beppo!