Sbraga...finally!

Hi friends, I hope you had a lovely Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Boxing Day and New Years since we last spoke.

For 2014, I have a series of restaurants on my list and Sbraga was one of them and I'm pleased to report...I went last night! I also have plans to focus on Your Friend, Caroline.

At Sbraga, we both had the four-course tasting menu and you can select your courses from the menu, which is nice. The courses are all sized perfectly.

We sat down and ordered a cocktail (for Mark) and wine (for me, a pinot). Then, the bread was served, but, it was more of an over-sized gougeres. Sbraga's version is a larger puffed airy bread with a hint of Gruyere. I would have eaten 10 more, had they offered and I'm glad they did not. 

Mark had the lobster roll, which was a deconstructed version of what our friends in Maine or at Luke's Lobster are famous for serving.

I had the potato ceviche with avocado. It was light and fresh and popped in my mouth. But, no surprise here, the lobster roll won the first round.

For the second course, I had the octopus with harissa. It was grilled to perfection and this by far, was the best part of the entire meal. My favorite octopus in the city is at Osteria on their grilled octopus salad, but this, is a very very close second.

Mark had the smoked trout, with broccoli couscous and tiny onions, which to me, shows the kitchen's dedication. Again, this was great. Mark was talking about it hours after we had left. 

And now for the main course. I had the falafel, eggplant and artichoke option and Mark chose the lamb rigatoni. The falafel was delightfully plated and just the right amount of spice. It was very good but when I return, I would opt to have a larger portion of the octopus for my third course. The waitress suggested that for those of us who aren't huge meat eaters, like me. Mark's looked great and he polished the plate. But the best part for me are the dollops of ricotta cheese on top.

Dessert took some debating. I had the dirt pudding, with homemade cream and gummy worms. And for the record, I.do.not.like.gummy.candy. Yet, I loved these!

Mark had the eggnog cheesecake with cherry compote. It was not overly eggnog-y and on a thick cookie crust.

I also had the Night Capp cocktail with coffee spirits, vanilla vodka and Bailey's. The foam on top was identical to any perfectly brewed espresso drink.

Definitely try Sbraga, if you haven't. The only downfall? The noise. It was very hard to have a conversation and I could hear the tables next to me very easily. But, you really should run and not walk to try the octopus, if you like octopus.

Enjoy!
Your friend,
Caroline