***Now Closed***

Months ago, Angie and Winnie went to Elettaria Elettaria, ordered too much food, and decided to bring their doggie bag to us. From then on, Elettaria has been on our restaurant wish list but you know how that goes. If only there were 8 meals in a day….Well, waiting so long is our loss. It was a memorable meal, where excellent ingredients and expert execution, was outshined by the inventiveness that really won us over.

Starting with the complimentary and refillable Naan, we were already impressed. It was a denser and doughier Naan, served warm (mmm…) with a yogurt-based cumin dip. Trying not to fill up on bread was a challenge I was losing.

Naan with Cumin Yogurt.jpg

The Crab Meat Resala, their most popular appetizer, is a light dish of large crab meat flakes topped with airy balls of deep fried gnocchi.
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Lon’s favorite was the Pork Ribs, heavily spiced with garam masala, meat falling off the bone, and the sweet yogurt sauce just blew it away. The shredded snap peas added a refreshing touch.

Pork Ribs.jpg

Our waiter recommended his personal favorite, the Dayboat Sea Scallops, which were cooked perfectly, and the sweetest (in a natural way) scallops I’ve had. Hidden underneath was a small piece of bacon fat that melted in you mouth, seductive and sinful.

Day Boat Scallop.jpg

I think my personal favorite was the Tagliatelle. I have a soft spot for good fresh pasta and this happens to be one of my choice shapes. The lamb ragu was rich and comforting. I imagine myself curling up with a big bowl of this on a rainy day.
Tagliatelle.jpg

The least favorite at our table (of four) was the Steamed Rice Cakes. The rice cakes were not all that interesting but I enjoyed the pool of lentils in a tomato-ish sauce, sopping it up with the Naan. And, to be least favorite in this line-up is not that bad.
Steamed Rice Cakes.jpg

We were more interested in the appetizers so we went heavy there and just got three entrees, which was plenty filling. The Black Bass dish had so many components, which is almost the theme of this restaurant. Underneath the nicely cooked fish, there was poached calamari (which Lon and Linda did not like, for me it didn’t add or take away), perfect cubes of potato, and some vegetable (can’t remember now but maybe leek), in a lovely broth. To the side, a piece of pancetta wrapped fennel that Lon raved about.

Black Bass.jpg

The Vegetable Dosas were really pretty, crispy and neatly folded, reminding me of a vegetable strudel. The highlight here was that the vegetables inside and out were al dente and screamed fresh.

Vegetable Dosas.jpg

The winning entree was the Duck, prepared in two way. The duck breast slices were a little less pink than I like but they were so tender that I didn’t mind. The ground duck added great bites of extra flavor and Lon couldn’t stop raving about the nettles.

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As much as we loved the food, the dessert was a small train wreck. The Fried Milk Donuts sounded so good, but they ended up being dense and burnt. The Chai Gelato was great though.
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The Coconut Tapioca Pudding with Fried Banana were ok but the Lime Cilantro Sorbet, also ok by itself, was really weird together.
Coconut Tapioca Pudding.jpg

The four of us were very full (and our friends had 3 glasses of alcohol) and the bill came out to under $50 per person (including tax and tip). For this kind of inventiveness, complexity, portion and ingredient quality, I think it’s quite a steal. Just don’t get dessert. I also recommend watching Chef Akhtar Nawab working his magic. Unlike most open kitchen with a ledge, this one does not have one and you can really see everything, even if you’re short like me. Seeing how clean it is, is comforting and it’s likely we’ll be back soon.

posted by jessica at 10:56 AM Filed under Closed, Favorites, Fusion or Mixed, Restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.