Life by Chocolate

Chocolate, white, milk, dark, in all its forms forms life. Chocolate truffles, caramels, and other confections are at the core of enjoyment. This is life by chocolate because death by chocolate is the wrong attitude.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Trattoria Gia: Always Hopping

TRATTORIA GIA
17 King Street
Rhinebeck, NY
trattoriagia@aol.com

Well, they didn't give me a menu so, I'm winging it. If I get anything wrong, or misspelled, you can lay it at the feet of Gia. However, first let me say that the food was very good. When we got there, it was pretty dead. But we got there early, around 6ish.

Next, there was so many good sounding items on the menu that Kim had a hard time deciding. I went straight for the Prix Fix menu, $26. Kim eventually wound up there. We both got the beet ravioli, exquisite. Truly. I wanted another three ravioli. The best thing we had all day. Beautiful. Even better than the egg salad at Eats in Albany. (BTW, they said I should look on the web for the menu of the day but I cannot find it.)

Next, I had the Caldo Verde, a fish stew. It was beautifully prepared even if the salmon still had skin on, which, for a stew, I don't like, and it was slightly overcooked. Yes, even salmon can be overcooked if overcooked in a stew. I would have preferred it a little more underdone. Kim had the parpadelle or parpardelle, I think they used the latter spelling, and she said it was great. It looked great. Though, this isn't a traditional overload you with food trattoria.

Next we both had the molten cake. Excuse me the tortino. We both decided against the Triamisu di Gigi. But you know me and how much I dislike triamisu. The tortino, a chocolate molten cake, is not made there but is bought from a bakery and then cooked or warmed on the premise. Well, it was nicely presented and pretty good though, I think, it suffered because of not being created on premise. Rather it was a little tough wrt the crust. Nice and chocolaty and molten, though. Not bad.

The Sidecar I had was OK. I had to fix it with a little bit of Cointreau but very good. I think this restaurant is much better than Terrapin. Gia cares. It's right next to Terrapin, btw. Enjoy. Go there and eat. Be happy. It's a good place and not overly expensive.

The wait staff is also wonderful. I loved them. By the time we left, it was standing room only. The wait list must have had 10 parties on it by 7.

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