Restaurant: Dinner at the Borgese’s [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
Location: Santa Monica
Date: May 11, 2023
Cuisine: Italian influenced gourmet home cooking
Rating: Awesome
Dinner at the Borgese’s is a special house dinner in Santa Monica cooked by the stunning pro-level home chef Borgese couple. Tonight’s dinner was another Hedonist dinner featuring whole lamb.
Lovely night out on the patio.
Rocco and gen prepping.
Some big tomohawks at the ready.
Tonight’s special feature was a whole saddle of lamb on the spit!
Our menu tonight. Some new dishes and some old favorites.
Cozze con Guanciale. Mussels with Pork Cheek. The sauce on this mussel dish was essentially like a all’amatriciana except that it was also saturated with mussel-juice. Pretty awesome actually, particularly the crispy little guanciale chunks.
Tartra di Manzo. Beef Tartare. Very good straight beef tartare. I like the capers — classic.
Quaglia Ripiena. Stuffed Quail. Quaglia Ripiena su Polenta. Stuffed quail over polenta. Now this is a to die for dish. The polenta is nice and juicy and the stuffing is amazing.
Pasta all’ Oliva. Olive Pasta. This is like a Pasta Puttanesca without the anchoives. Actually it was one of the best olive pastas I’ve had. It had that fresh olive flavor, and lots of it, but it wasn’t offputting at all. The texture was perfect and the oily caponata-type sauce. Really good.
Yarom gets “just the sauce.”
Sella di Agnello a Legna. Wood-fired lamb saddle. Impressive, but I can’t say I adored this lamb. It was very smoky, but it had just a touch too much lamb “funk” for my taste and a texture more like steak. I really like roast lamb when its falling off the bone, more middle eastern style. These are nitpics though.
Bistecca di Tomahawk Cotta a Legna. Wood-fired Tomahawk Steak. Very rare! Great steak, but I’ve liked some of his other steaks a bit better. I like it a little more “medium rare” and a bit more bark. Plenty of salt though. Rocco does like his salt.
Midollo Osseo. Wood-fired Bone Marrow. The bone marrow was great for “juicing” up bites of steak and lamb. Too bad there wasn’t more.
Polenta. This stuff is always amazing. Lots of butter or something.
Aglio Broccolini Arrostiiti. Garlic Roasted Broccolini. One of my favorites of his vegetables. Really nice crunch. Salty though. Really salty. But tasted amazing.
Cannoli and Baklava’s Evil American Lovechild — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Base crafted from Galbani Whole Milk Ricotta and Sicilian Toasted Noto Romano Almond Paste with a touch of the sugar subbed out for Sicilian Honey. Mixed in is Malibu Honey, California Pistachios, and house-made Gluten Free Honey Graham Crackers (almond flour and so good you can’t tell them from the wheat flour version)! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #ricotta #almond #RicottaCheese #cheese #Sicily #honey #GrahamCracker #pistachio
Pistachio Chocolate Fudge Gelato – a new high nut and no egg formulation with Pistachio di Bronte DOGC produces an intense pistachio base, mixed with Valrhona 70% Chocolate Ganache — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistachio #Sicily #nuts #Valrhona #Chocolate #Ganache
Snickerdoodle Gelato NSA — A cinnamon vanilla base, but this version is No Sugar Added and formulated with Allulose — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #snickerdoodle #cookie #cinnamon #vanilla #nsa #allulose
Rocco works my gelato.
Epic wine lineup.
The gang at the table.
Very fun night with an awesome (and typical) crew and great great wines. Food was really fabulous as always, and there was tons, although I’ve had Rocco’s meals where I liked the mains more. Tonight’s standouts were the clams, quail, and pasta.
First of all, the Borgese hospitality was awesome, the house lovely, and the food absolutely incredible. One of the best “home cooked” meals I’ve had. Maybe ever if you restrict it to chefs cooking in their own home kitchen. Just amazing. Every dish was great. Rustic but extremely delicious style. Superb homemade pastas.
Service was handled by the youngest Borgese (teen daughter) and was better than most restaurant staff. Super friendly and you can tell they do this a lot.
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