Dinner at Palmeri Ristorante

We discovered this restaurant by accident 4 weeks ago. We vowed to return as the food was very good; authentic Italian with owner/Chef Ottavio Palmeri and his Italian staff.  There were six of us for dinner this time. We were a bit early so we sat at the bar and were quickly greeted by a cute and animated Italian lady named Alize. She was very busy but didn't miss a beat. Chef Ottavio was busy as well working the floor. See link on previous visit to Palmeri.
http://solittlethyme.blogspot.com/2014/02/palmeri-ristorante.html

Before our appetizers, they served a basket of sliced bread and a dish of goat cheese with some kind of red sauce; marinara perhaps?  This was very tasty. It was hard not to make an entree out of this. We ordered several appetizers. I had shredded artichoke with lemon topped with a couple of large shaved parmesan cheese. Alma had something that looked similar; Asparagi...white asparagus, baby spinach, purple potatoes, Boschetto (sheep's milk infused with white truffles), pistachio and Guanciale (Italian cured meat, usually cheek) in a  shallot vinaigrette. Louise had the Fritto Misto, lightly fried calamari, scallops and shrimp which was quite edible.  Raymond had the special for the evening which was veal. It reminded me of baby food and though it was delicious I thought it needed to be served with bread or something to spread on to.

For our entrees: We pretty much ordered the same things.  We loved their homemade Tagliatelle Bolognese so Alma ordered that. The special pasta that evening was a Spaghetti with Truffles.  I split that with someone and decided to get the Branzino. I got all excited when I spotted the encrusted sea bass by the bar as the waiter cracked it open. I remember having that in Sorrento. They brought the fish to our table so I could take a picture of it inside the salted cave. They then took it away to strip it from it's armor and came back with the naked fish then once again whisked it off to fillet. It came back all prepped and ready to be consumed. This was the freshest, most tender fish ever and is sure to make a fish lover out of anyone; even my friend Mertz!  I loved the combination of fish and the spaghetti. Louise had an interesting entree; they were prawns wrapped in swordfish. I didn't really notice the swordfish as I was not aware at the time I was trying it. All I know is whatever fish it was that enveloped the crustacean made the prawn more exciting. It was plump and juicy which equalled.....deeelicious!  I don't remember what Elliot had since he was sitting on the far end of the table. It didn't matter because if you recall, Elliot usually does not care to share!

For dessert, Raymond ordered the Crostata di Limone; Lemon Tart with Prosecco Sorbetto which sounded good but it was too tart for my taste. Alma had the Citrus Scented Panna Cotta. The presentation on this was beautiful and was informed that it was very nice and light. My son had the Cioccolato, Valrhona chocolate hazelnut crunch cake which was served with ice cream. I didn't get to try that one. Our server, Gennaro suggested the Cannoli. He swore by it and since he was so passionate about it I gave in. Boy was it ever good. I am glad I listened to Gennaro...

It was nice to see  Marco, our previous server we loved. Gennaro was just as nice and treated us like old friends.  Gennaro, Marco, Alize and of course Chef Ottavio Palmeri; on behalf of the Montoya-Muenchow family, I say:  Grazie Mille.