Felidia

We selected to go with the Chef's tasting menu where Chef Nicotra will create a personalized tasting menu of the day's finest selections for our table.

We began our meal with a warm homemade Focaccia bread and sourdough rolls in the bread basket. Felidia has a staff of 4 full-time bakers busy preparing everything from pastas, breads, cakes and all the desserts.

The bread basket came with a small bowl of white bean purée and a few huge black beans drizzled with olive oil and with minced chives. The bean purée tasted like hummus but enhanced with great olive oil, and the big black beans has a very good texture.

Chef's compliment: Home made toasted Focaccia with fresh Mozarella and some special kind of tomato that I forget the name, drizzled with olive oil and topped with basil chiffonade.

Shaved raw tuna, salmon, and fluke with shaved local vegetables such as fennel, asparagus, cucumber, avocado, etc.. and puff rice for a bit of crunch.

I simply love this dish! Fresh, refreshing, light and the addition of the puff rice was interesting.

Once all the plates are place on the table, our waiter pour a purée of cucuzza (Italian squash) on top of the dish.

Simply delicious! The cucuzza purée is flavorful and enhanced the flavor of the crab meat and the vegetables.

Our third dish is a homemade cavatelli with Calabrese Andouille (Sausage), roasted eggplant and special spices.

It is not very often I get to eat home made pasta and it does make a huge difference. The pasta was cooked al dente but it is also a bit chewy which is a real change from the pre-made pasta. The portion of the pasta was small but it was just right so we can enjoy many more courses to come.

This dish was another compliment of the chef: Pear and Pecorino filled Ravioli. This dish is one of Chef Nicotra's signature dish.

Pear and Pecorino filled Ravioli sounded a bit weird because fruit in a savory ravioli is a bit unusual but surprisingly the ravioli and pear was a very good combination. If the waiter did not tell me it has pear in the ravioli I would not have known because the taste of the pear was delicate. The homemade ravioli was clearly the star. The pecorino was very smooth, and you could taste a hint of the pear, but not enough to make it sweet. The addition of the sage was a good addition to the dish.

We had such a good time that we forgot to take a picture of the 3 other bottles of wine we ordered. This bottle was excellent.

Our fourth dish: QUAGLIE (Quail), Vermont Quail Saltimbocca “Giambotto” (Blend of mixed vegetables in Italian).

I like dark meat so the legs were gone ASAP. The breast of the quail was filled prosciutto, sage, and bread crumbs, cooked in a in wine sauce and served with a nice and fresh bed of some kind of vegetable purée (maybe asparagus). The dish was very good but I was a bit full and I could not finish the 2nd breasts.

The dish is really good but again I was so full that I only ate a few spoons. We asked our waiter to box it so we can take in home so nothing is wasted.