Vaso Azurro
In the past 4 years, I have never ever gone to a restaurant without a friend's recommendation. Speaks something about my adventurous bent, isn't it?
All that changed last week. I haven't had Italian in months now. Luckily, When I called AS(A&S, from now on AS) , A suggested Italian as well. He wanted to eat Brushetta and Gnochi. Somehow, I ended up volunteering for picking the place.
Normally, when I pick a restaurant or make a choice for anybody apart from me, I am extremely jittery. Here I had some people who are quite vociferous when they don't like a place. I mean its not personal but as H put it, I perennially have a guilt conscious for one thing or the other.
I looked for help at Yelp which screamed Vasa Azurro. Vasa Azurro was on Castro street, much nearer to our houses than Palo Alto. Problem with yelp is, I never can gather much info about the vegetarian side of the menu. Honorable Desi junta, you ought to make your esteemed presence at yelp.
I spoke to a lady with british accent(!) and made reservations. Informed the concerned couples, hopped into the car, reached AS's place and then reality hit. Me being me, I had left the address of the restaurant and my cell phone right in my book shelf. I couldn't even recall the name(read the name again, before judging me people).
"Panic". I was running out of time as well. I parked the car right in the middle of apartment pathway with the hazard light 'on', hoping I could find the info again using AS's comp. I rang their apartment bell. S opens the door.
A: Call me.
Me, standing right inside his apartment: "i don't have my cellphone".
A: Stoopid.
He gets his home phone and dials his own number. That's when I spot his I-Phone(acquired just that day), which plays some not so nice, classicalish light music for . What can I say, that's A for you!
Back to my problem, I figure, since he has an I-Phone, I can make him search for the restaurant in the car. A googles and googles but never gets the restaurant. I turn into Castro Street and suddenly, S screams," Vaso Azzurro?"
Me: Oh, that was the name, how did you find out?
Turns out, we were right in front of it! Bulbeets!
We park which brings me to the question, why are all the arrows in the multi-floored public parking lot in castro, left-hand drive based? Did some one think they were in Britain/India?
We enter the restaurant, the lady asks,"Trubadletooo".
S and me are dazed now, Was that Italian?
A says, yes, yes. She repeats, table for five?
A British accent in an Italian restaurant, nice. We were the only Indians, that's probably why she could figure out that it was us who had made the reservation for 5. Somehow, A was very proud of the fact.
After being seated, a man with apron comes to our table."Hi, How have you been? Nice to see you". No, no, he wasn't exactly my long lost brother. It was mentioned in yelp that it is a family type restaurant and how the owner treats every one like family. Very much like family, I tell you.
All through our time there, we heard loud boisterous laughs. Closest I am going to get to the the Italian feel, I suppose. Encouraged by all these noises, We wanted to scream. I mean I am born with amplifiers the controls of which my cousins have been searching for a long time now. It is set at maximum. But even, I was no match.
The waitress was very polite. Sweet Maami. I saw couple of waitresses eating while we were there which is rather nice. Often, I see the employees eating by themselves in an empty place, looks a wee bit sad. All the tables were occupied yet I don't recall really waiting for anything. Overall, I loved the atmosphere. It was a find.
The menu strangely seemed short. But we got our Vegetarian Items, so not a lot of complaints there. For appetizers, we ordered Bruschetta, Aubergines Au Grill. Bruschetta was a little stale. Made of thinner bread strips and little more crisper than I liked. Aubergines... used some sort of cheese I don't like. C1, C2, if you must know, loved the appetizers, the food in general and the place. Immense relief came!
From the Entree menu, we had Penne Alla Diavola,Ravioli Con Spinaci Di Mascarpone and Gnocchi Di Spinaci Al Gorgonzola.
Penne and Ravioli were very good. Penne was light. Sauteed with the fresh vegetables, one of the best I have had. Ravioli had the right amount of cheese and was served in a delicious, slightly sweet, slightly creamy(mascarpone cheese) marinara sauce. Gnocchi turned out to be too floury and the sauce too creamy. Nobody touched it. Never ever order it. If you have a craving for Gnochhi, come back home, wait for your time at Pizza Antica.
Oh yeah, the bread was great. Great enough to ask for "to go" category.
On the dessert side, Tiramasu was just delicious to my taste buds except for the cream on top. Not at all heavy, just the way I like it.
* I have ex-friend and a friend with whom I was on a break once. I mean that's how the she put it. I guess this is how close I am going to get to the romantic lingo! Though I would like hastily add, I didn't/don't have romantic inclinations to either of them.
In the past 4 years, I have never ever gone to a restaurant without a friend's recommendation. Speaks something about my adventurous bent, isn't it?
All that changed last week. I haven't had Italian in months now. Luckily, When I called AS(A&S, from now on AS) , A suggested Italian as well. He wanted to eat Brushetta and Gnochi. Somehow, I ended up volunteering for picking the place.
Normally, when I pick a restaurant or make a choice for anybody apart from me, I am extremely jittery. Here I had some people who are quite vociferous when they don't like a place. I mean its not personal but as H put it, I perennially have a guilt conscious for one thing or the other.
I looked for help at Yelp which screamed Vasa Azurro. Vasa Azurro was on Castro street, much nearer to our houses than Palo Alto. Problem with yelp is, I never can gather much info about the vegetarian side of the menu. Honorable Desi junta, you ought to make your esteemed presence at yelp.
I spoke to a lady with british accent(!) and made reservations. Informed the concerned couples, hopped into the car, reached AS's place and then reality hit. Me being me, I had left the address of the restaurant and my cell phone right in my book shelf. I couldn't even recall the name(read the name again, before judging me people).
"Panic". I was running out of time as well. I parked the car right in the middle of apartment pathway with the hazard light 'on', hoping I could find the info again using AS's comp. I rang their apartment bell. S opens the door.
A: Call me.
Me, standing right inside his apartment: "i don't have my cellphone".
A: Stoopid.
He gets his home phone and dials his own number. That's when I spot his I-Phone(acquired just that day), which plays some not so nice, classicalish light music for . What can I say, that's A for you!
Back to my problem, I figure, since he has an I-Phone, I can make him search for the restaurant in the car. A googles and googles but never gets the restaurant. I turn into Castro Street and suddenly, S screams," Vaso Azzurro?"
Me: Oh, that was the name, how did you find out?
Turns out, we were right in front of it! Bulbeets!
We park which brings me to the question, why are all the arrows in the multi-floored public parking lot in castro, left-hand drive based? Did some one think they were in Britain/India?
We enter the restaurant, the lady asks,"Trubadletooo".
S and me are dazed now, Was that Italian?
A says, yes, yes. She repeats, table for five?
A British accent in an Italian restaurant, nice. We were the only Indians, that's probably why she could figure out that it was us who had made the reservation for 5. Somehow, A was very proud of the fact.
After being seated, a man with apron comes to our table."Hi, How have you been? Nice to see you". No, no, he wasn't exactly my long lost brother. It was mentioned in yelp that it is a family type restaurant and how the owner treats every one like family. Very much like family, I tell you.
All through our time there, we heard loud boisterous laughs. Closest I am going to get to the the Italian feel, I suppose. Encouraged by all these noises, We wanted to scream. I mean I am born with amplifiers the controls of which my cousins have been searching for a long time now. It is set at maximum. But even, I was no match.
The waitress was very polite. Sweet Maami. I saw couple of waitresses eating while we were there which is rather nice. Often, I see the employees eating by themselves in an empty place, looks a wee bit sad. All the tables were occupied yet I don't recall really waiting for anything. Overall, I loved the atmosphere. It was a find.
The menu strangely seemed short. But we got our Vegetarian Items, so not a lot of complaints there. For appetizers, we ordered Bruschetta, Aubergines Au Grill. Bruschetta was a little stale. Made of thinner bread strips and little more crisper than I liked. Aubergines... used some sort of cheese I don't like. C1, C2, if you must know, loved the appetizers, the food in general and the place. Immense relief came!
From the Entree menu, we had Penne Alla Diavola,Ravioli Con Spinaci Di Mascarpone and Gnocchi Di Spinaci Al Gorgonzola.
Penne and Ravioli were very good. Penne was light. Sauteed with the fresh vegetables, one of the best I have had. Ravioli had the right amount of cheese and was served in a delicious, slightly sweet, slightly creamy(mascarpone cheese) marinara sauce. Gnocchi turned out to be too floury and the sauce too creamy. Nobody touched it. Never ever order it. If you have a craving for Gnochhi, come back home, wait for your time at Pizza Antica.
Oh yeah, the bread was great. Great enough to ask for "to go" category.
On the dessert side, Tiramasu was just delicious to my taste buds except for the cream on top. Not at all heavy, just the way I like it.
* I have ex-friend and a friend with whom I was on a break once. I mean that's how the she put it. I guess this is how close I am going to get to the romantic lingo! Though I would like hastily add, I didn't/don't have romantic inclinations to either of them.
Went to Vazo Azurro on a friend's recommendation and loved the place. The ravioli was to die for. Given that I am in the Bayarea, would love to see a lot more Restaurant report :-P
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