out and about: anniversary chef's table at ambrogio by acquerello

Ever since george’s california modern closed after covid, and with it no more TBL3 dinners, we’ve been milling around on our anniversary trying to find the right spot to celebrate. And I got to tell you there aren’t a lot of tasting menu meals around like TBL3.

Until now. We decided to check out ambrogio by acquerello in the village. Ambrogio15 has long been a favorite spot of ours. We love their tuna tartare’s, carpaccio, prosciutto and burrata, and housemade pizzas. And don’t get me started on the make your own charcuterie board. Just saying.

Ambrogio by acquerello is the fine dining concept by the same group. They partnered with chef’s from michelin star acquerello in italy; who come back and forth developing their concept. The restaurant offers two 8 course tasting menu’s nightly. One vegetarian, one meat driven. And it changes regularly. They also offer a 4 course mini option tuesday through thursday. And two levels of wine pairings.

We’ve been talking about trying it out, for several months now. But what really sealed the deal was that ambrogio by acquerello now offers a chef’s table experience. 1 table, in the kitchen that seats 2 - 6 people. You get to watch the pass, the chefs, and be a part of the kitchen. They describe it as being in chef’s home, at his table, where he serves you like you are an old friend. Yes please.

The menu is not written. A lot of the dishes are experimental. And all of it, was amazing. I chose to do the wine pairing, while jamie (shocker) chose the italian ipa for every course . But let me tell you, that didn’t stop him from tasting all of my wines… in some cases, multiple times.

There was no written menu, just the description from the head chef himself, which i tried to take note of, but please don’t hate me if it’s not all that descriptive.

wine: champagne, wilmart & cie, grand cellier, premier cru, a rilly la montagne
beer: ipa, itay, lippa
amuse: cauliflower veloute, fried leeks, fresh leeks and pink peppercorns

Holy moly. I mean, I love, love, love champs. But this one was out of this world. So refreshing.

And now, let’s talk about this cauliflower. Are you kidding me? It was so good. Rich, flavorful, without feeling heavy at all. And the dual leeks? Amazing. I’m so working out a home version, because I could just live on this dish.

wine: coffele, ca’ visco, soave, denominazione di origine controllata, classico
wasabi, little gem, avocado puree, ginger, apple granita, matcha, sliced ginger, ginger lemon dressing

Yeah, so this was the bomb. We were instructed to eat it with our hands, like a lettuce wrap. Which was a really cool concept. A lettuce wrap of lettuce, with radish, ginger, and such a good dressing, that was poured tableside.

wine: vermentino, sei piu, bianco, cantina giba
asparagus: basil vin, celery puree with pink pepper corn, lemon, and caper topping, osetra caviar

This is the dish that changed Jamie forever. He literally told the chef that if he would turn vegetarian for this dish. He also told me the next time we come back we’re doing one vegetarian meal and one meat meal, because we need all the veggies and the last three vegetarian dishes were ridiculous.

It was absolutely delish. While I love shaved asparagus, I’m totally peeling my whole asparagus from now own. I also loved that he had celery puree three ways. Each with a different flavor profile that lent something different to asparagus. And caviar? Sorry, not sorry. Perfect pairing.

wine: villa parens maison: pinot nero
cod, bechamel with gruyere, basil, parsley, lemon zest, crispy polenta with lemon and butter

Delish pinot nero. Despite being a red, it was delicate and perfectly balanced. Before we even knew what the next course was, I knew it would be seafood. Similar to a pinot blanc, it was described as a white wine with a red color.

And that cod? The crispy skin was so perfectly crispy. You know how places wil tout crispy fish skin, but it comes with a layer of congealed fat? This? Was not that. Cod was perfect. And I we loved the polenta presentation. It was crispy. Like a crispy rice (more on that later). Then tossed with lemon and butter. Bet you can’t guess who’s gonna make a crispy polenta dish now….

wine: michele satta, cova ciere,
hokkaido scallop with moqueca broth plus bell pepper and coconut milk, cilantro oil, crispy rice with saffron

Once again. Amazing. Seriously people. What they are doing with food here is amazing. Y’all know how much I love crispy rice. And this crispy rice was no joke. I may or may not have told the chef that all my crispy rice will be made with saffron from now on, because it was just that good.

I love a crispy rice salad. But I’ve never thought to have it as an addition to a broth. Which we were instructed to add it to. Amazing.

Not to mention, I swear that hokkaido scallops are seriously on a whole other level from any other scallop. Period. They are just so clean and fresh, it’s ridiculous.

palate cleanser: grapefruit, white chocolate, rhubarb
shot of sweet vermouth

The palate cleanser was brought out before the mains. We were told to take it all in one bite, then to take the shot of sweet vermouth.

Can I just implement this in all my meals? It sounds ridiculous. You can’t even imagine eating these ingredients together. But. It. Is. Just. So. Good. And the follow up shot. Yes please. Remember when I turned into a slow drinking dry bianco vermoth fan before a meal. Well, now I’m a shot taking, sweet vermouth fan in the middle of a meal.

wine: brunello di montalcino, riserva 2012, il bosco di grazia
lamb loin, casava puree, yucca

Are you kidding me? I cook with casava flour all the time. It doesn’t taste like this, but you better bet I’m gonna figure out how to make it like this. The sauce was amazing. And the yuca was so good. (not to be confused with yucca). yuca is the casava plant, and it was really neat to be able to taste the plant as it is.

And I’m dreaming about this lamb loin. I’m usually a lamb chop type of girl. But I’ve never had loin this tender or flavorful or perfectly cooked before. So much so I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture of the sliced meat, so you could see just exactly how tender and perfectly red it was. And jamie? He added a third restaurant (outside of home) where he will happily order lamb.

Then, can we talk about the wine. Love reds, but can’t always drink them, but these reds were so clean that there was no issue whatsoever. Not to mention everything was such a compliment.

wine: seimura, rosso, cantina giba
waygu, parsley, greens, jus

We were given two options for the main course… and y’all know us. If there are two ways to do something, we’re gonna do both and share. The more tastings the merrier.

And are we so glad we did. The waygu was melt in your mouth. The extra wine pairing? Could bathe in it.

wine: preziaso, collezione privat, alberto ravazzi, vini di toscana
“ramen”, calamari, filet, tempura quail egg, goat cheese stuffed rigatoni, zucchini, fettuccini

I love the italian take on this ramen. Seriously can’t be matched. The filet was amazing. The calamari was melt in your mouth. And let’s just wax poetic about the tempura quail egg… because we can. But wait, there’s more.

Oh yeah, you know we did. There was an option to add truffles to the ramen, so we did. Well, we did to one of our ramens. We wanted to taste and compare both versions.

Both were excellent. Truffle brought something else to the party; but in no way was the flavor diminished in the ramen without it. Sometimes truffle can be super over powering, and while it wasn’t super heavy handed on the deliver, in the ramen without it we were able to taste a lot more nuanced flavors. It reallly just depends on your own preference, and umami needs.

wine: rubinelli vajol, recioto della valpolicella, denominazione di orgine controllata e garantita, classico, 2015
dessert: panna cotta, grapes with caviar, caper twill cannoli with olive, strawberry, almond, etc. dippers

This dessert can be best described as “choose your own adventure.” To the left of the cannoli were the dippers for the panna cotta, and to the right the ones for the cannoli. Seriously, this was amazing. I’m not an overly sweet person, so all the savory takes on dessert were totally up my alley.

dessert #2: dark chocolate with curry, white chocolate, sabayon

This was the sweet dessert plate. Multiple flavors, and all sorts of goodness. Although we were full at this point. But not overly so. A sign of a perfect tasting.

There is a delicate balance between how many courses you can serve, how many wines you can pour, and also being able to walk away, still comfortable. Full, but comfortable. And this. Was that.

We can’t wait to go back. Both for the regular tasting menu, and for the chef’s table again. So good.