Aug 13 2007
Chef’s Tasting at Cinque Terre
This past weekend we had our first house guests since we’ve moved to Maine. My parents came up Friday afternoon for an introduction to Portland and an explanation of why it is that we moved up here. First up, after a lengthy drive from Connecticut exacerbated by rain and a traffic accident, was a trip down to Old Port for dinner. After striking out on reservations at both Fore Street and Street & Co., we had a 7:00 table at Cinque Terre on Wharf St. We parked in the garage on Fore St. and wandered down into the cobblestone section of Old Port to show His parents around. We stopped at Wine Bar for a glass each and some of their delicious garlic olive oil and baguette, then headed next door for dinner.
Cinque Terre is a lovely space–not overly pretentious, but it definitely feels like an upscale restaurant. When we’d been seated, the waitress introduced herself and went over the menu. The left-hand side was a la carte items, and the right-hand side was that evening’s tasting menu–a six-course meal selected by the chef. My mom not being a seafood fan, she went the build-your-own route because two of the courses were seafood ravioli and scallops, but She, He, and dad selected the tasting menu. Unfortunately, we’d already ordered wine before deciding on the tasting menu, so we did not go with the suggested wine flight. That will be something to keep in mind for next time.
The first course of the tasting menu is antipasti, and we received a salad with pickled beets and a lovely soft cheese whose name I didn’t catch. She absolutely loves beets from her time in France, and I’m actually a fan too. This was a very pleasant salad, if unspectacular. Next up were the seafood ravioli with lobster consomme. Homemade ravioli stuffed with a avery mild seafood and doused in a pink, lobster-based sauce. Very good, though I’ve never had seafood ravioli before, so I don’t have much basis for comparison.
After the pasta course, things started getting good. The scallops were simply wonderful. They were served with a sauteed vegetable on the side, and two different sauces swirled on the bottom of the plate. The orange one that went with the scallops was great, and the green that complemented the veggies was just as good. We’ve just recently discovered the scallop and are becoming bigger fans with each time we have them. The main course was a veal tenderloin filet with root vegetables, and excellent is simply not kind enough to describe it. Filet mignon is without question one of our favorite meals, and the veal just made it all the more delicious. I’m not sure how much a veal loin costs retail, but next time I prepare a big meal, I know I’ll be looking.
Finally, after the meal, we were presented a cheese board with ronchal, which closely resembles a good, hard parmigiano reggiano, with clover honey, fig bread, fruit compote, and spiced walnuts. The fig bread was take-it-or-leave-it (dad didn’t care for it, She and I thought it tasty), but the rest was wonderful. The spiciness of the walnuts and the sweetness of the fruit and honey set off the cheese perfectly. My father cooks large, elaborate family meals whenever the opportunity arises, and I have a feeling a cheese board may be added to the next menu. It was that good.
The tasting dessert was nice, but not one of the more memorable courses. There were three different tastes presented on a single plate–a medallion of cheesecake, a smattering of fresh fruit served in a miniature waffle-cone, and a fruit sorbet. All were tasty, and finished the meal well, but compared to the previous three courses, they just didn’t stand out.
Mom had a prosciutto plate for her antipasti, a gnocchi for the pasta course, and their soup of the day (I believe it was a minestrone or something similar). Here main course was the full-sized serving of the veal loin, and she had a chocolate torte for dessert. All received great reviews from her, and She tasted the gnocchi and was quite impressed. Mom ate a bit too much though, as she was ordering full-sized courses instead of tasting-sized morsels, so she left a bit uncomfortable. She and I felt just right after a great meal–no longer hungry, but not at all over-full.
As I’m sure you’re expecting, a meal of this caliber is not inexpensive. The tasting menu is $65, and the suggested wine flight another $20 on top of that. Mom’s meal of five courses came out to a little over $60. With drinks and tip, we had a $400 check, but it was well worth the expense. Unfortunately, that’s not a meal we can afford to repeat often, so we’ll need to savor the memories of this one for a while. If you have the opportunity, you really should stop into Cinque Terre and let the chef guide you on a bit of a culinary expedition.
[...] you like. For our $150 (which included tip) we both thought Fore Street was very good, but that Cinque Terre was [...]