What fun it is to have a working dinner in Milan! I traveled there with a genial group for a film shoot, and we hobnobbed in a selection of restaurants I might not have experienced in my traveler budget. Ilia was a lovely little spot, arranged for the tourist set, but on first glance you might assume it was the real deal family-style Italian joint. Just as we arrived, we saw the waiter pushing a mighty cart of desserts through the restaurant, a scene which would haunt us after we finished our final course. It had shiny glazed cakes and overfull baskets of brown cookies shifting as the wheels veered around our chairs. After it passed, we turned our attention to the menu, which had been thoughtfully translated for our consideration.
Working dinner means enjoying, apart from the company (of course), ordering a variety of courses, in true Italian fashion: antipasti, pasta and main dishes. Since we were on day 3 of pasta pasta pasta, I boringly went with an arugula salad from the sides section. When it came, it was a bowl of arugula leaves, so I had my Italian speaking comrade send it back for some parmesan shavings. "The American wants parmesan," he pointed out, much to my chagrin, when the waiter returned. I was shamed until I saw the American woman at the next table send her perfectly rare entrecote back to the kitchen to be re-heated and cut smaller. Cheese is no biggie next to that request.
I was glad I kept the menu, so I could check and see that I wasn't in the wrong; look, the menu says the arugula salad has cheese!
For an Italian meal, my order was quite out of order. A salad to start, and an antipasti as a main- Sacrebleu! Or rather, "mama mia"? I got the smoked swordfish (pesce spada), which was lovely and light and saved room for a post-meal gelato. M got the tortelloni- chunky little devils full of spinach that would have been nicer served more al dente. We ignored the passing dolci cart, hoping to find more appealing desserts on our after dinner stroll. Though Ilia turned out to be less of a treat than Cantina di Manuela, I was glad to end my night on the lighter side. Until the gelatera filled me with stracciatella.
Working dinner means enjoying, apart from the company (of course), ordering a variety of courses, in true Italian fashion: antipasti, pasta and main dishes. Since we were on day 3 of pasta pasta pasta, I boringly went with an arugula salad from the sides section. When it came, it was a bowl of arugula leaves, so I had my Italian speaking comrade send it back for some parmesan shavings. "The American wants parmesan," he pointed out, much to my chagrin, when the waiter returned. I was shamed until I saw the American woman at the next table send her perfectly rare entrecote back to the kitchen to be re-heated and cut smaller. Cheese is no biggie next to that request.
I was glad I kept the menu, so I could check and see that I wasn't in the wrong; look, the menu says the arugula salad has cheese!
For an Italian meal, my order was quite out of order. A salad to start, and an antipasti as a main- Sacrebleu! Or rather, "mama mia"? I got the smoked swordfish (pesce spada), which was lovely and light and saved room for a post-meal gelato. M got the tortelloni- chunky little devils full of spinach that would have been nicer served more al dente. We ignored the passing dolci cart, hoping to find more appealing desserts on our after dinner stroll. Though Ilia turned out to be less of a treat than Cantina di Manuela, I was glad to end my night on the lighter side. Until the gelatera filled me with stracciatella.
No comments:
Post a Comment