tosca: pure decadence

The boy and I were celebrating so we went out for a stellar slap-up meal last night and my god: can you say “pure decadence”? We went to this place called Tosca which is a sister restaurant to a place Dan used to work.

The menu is small but is changed regularly by the amazing head chef, Adam, and features local fare. We ordered some wine and beer to get started while we had a go at the bread and butter brought out:

Next, before we had even thought about ordering, the head chef sent out an entree that they “had spare” (whatever, he is such a treater) – Crispy Striped Bass with mussels, summer squash, local greens, pea tendrils and Fischer Farms bacon:

Honestly…so incredible! Dan had to change his order since this had been his choice! I have never had mussels before and I absolutely loved them. So rich and creamy!

Dan liked it…

Next up, we had to decide what we “actually” wanted to eat. We decided to share a small primi, a secondi plate and a contorni (side). We made our order and then they completely ignored us and brought four times as much food as we asked for!

I was ok with it…

We ordered this primi, the Gargenelli; roasted kohlrabi, duck liver sauce, cherries, and local basil. It looked like this:

On top of that they brought up two more primi plates. First, the Fettuccini with roasted garlic bulbils, parmesan brodo, swiss chard and egg:

Then the third addition (getting ridiculous, no?!) was the Flavors of Summer Plate which consisted of Wild Acres duck liver pate, stonefruit, mustard greens, local radishes, pistachios, spring salad and crostini:

Let’s just say the stone fruit and pate were like nothing I’ve ever tasted. SO GOOD.

So, then after all this ridiculous decadence, our actual main course, or secondi, came out! We had ordered the Prime Ribeye Steak, medium rare (a.k.a. dreamy) which was served with local mushrooms, yukon gold potato, and rosemary:

The steak was OUT OF THIS WORLD. It was thick – like doorstep thick – and cooked to the perfect level of doneness. It had an amazing crisp to its outside from the glaze and honestly, even the potatoes and mushrooms (I think they were Oyster) were chewy and flavorful and amazing. We literally just spent every bite oohing and ahhing and grinning ear to ear.

Because we are fools (or really clever?) we also ordered a small side dish, or contorni, of Riverbend Farms polenta, with chive, balsamic and mustard seed a.k.a. love in a bowl:

If this absolute decadence, extravagance, and love on a plate was not enough (I was SO stuffed by this point that I couldn’t finish my wine and I can always finish my wine)…