Where to Eat - SPQR

This past weekend, Andrew and I hit up one of my favorite Italian restaurants in the city, SPQR. Their menu is always evolving, their pastas are always consistently mind blowing, and their rare Italian wines and knowledgeable pairings are always spot on. We had a lovely and very indulgent dinner. We also had a great time chatting with the sweet couple next to us - the tables are REALLY tight. We were happy to be seated next to normal people this time as we had quite a disaster one evening placed next to a feuding and very drunk couple. I learned the hard way that sometimes you don't want a show with your dinner.

We started with three different antipasti. The 64 degree farm egg with celery root, house made bacon, white shrimp and American ham was first. This dish was like the best breakfast you could ever imagine. The shrimp was cooked to perfection - just barely cooked through so the texture is on point. I thought the ham was excessive but not so much that it distracted from the overall taste of the dish. I would definitely ask for bread to sop up this with.

The raw hawaiian amberjack with grape, opal basil vinegar, sea bean and Persian lime salt may have been my favorite part of the meal. The freshness of the fish and sea bean with the sweetness of the grape and acidity of the vinegar provided a gorgeously balanced bite. Visually the colors on the plate were beautiful, but everything had a purpose. Is there anything more annoying then ingriediants just put on the plate for aesthetic reasons?

Whenever we see burrata on a menu, we get it. It's a little rule we have when dining together. Hence we ordered the mushroom terrina with burrata, brussels sprouts, onion marmellata, and agave vinaigrette. This plate basically bordered on absurd. There was way too much going on.The concept was interesting but it just didn't work. The elements were scattered all over the plate and we literally had to ask the waiter what it was and how to eat it - he recommended to "dive right in" ... seriously. The raw brussel sprouts provided interesting texture and almost an acidity to the richness of the dish. I think the mushroom terrina was tasty on its own and burrata is always amazing - per usual I wish there was more. I honestly would have preferred some crustini with the buratta, some of the sauted mushrooms and the onion marmellata. It may not have looked as interesting but it would have tasted way better and been a lot less confusing.

Next we had the squid ink spaghettini with dungeness crab, spot prawn, cured egg yolk and tarragon. This pasta was incredible. The house made squid ink pasta was probably the best I've had to date and there was the perfect portion of seafood so it highlighted the pasta without overshadowing it. There's something about spot prawns that just scream the taste of sea water to me in the best of ways. That coupled with the richness of the egg was superb.

I honestly wish we ordered two pastas instead - the lovely woman next to us got the ricotta gnuddi with the pork meatballs and it looked heavenly - but we decided to try an entree. We got the fricassae of scallops and Maine lobster with cannellini beans and early spring vegetables. I was really excited about this course but unfortunately it was probably the worst thing we ate. (Note - the worst thing at SPQR could be the best thing at some restaruants.) The dish was oversalted, especially the scallops. The lobster was cooked well but the beans were undercooked and had that horrible fiburous texture.

They had a dessert special of house made salted chocolate carmels with different salts incorporated into each one. These were divine and totally made up for the salty entree. I could eat them every day forever.

We also got a butternut squash cake with banana carmel, smoked maple and spice crumbs. Truth be told I'm not a huge dessert person and the carmels were probably enough for me. I tried a bite or two of this and it was basically pumpkin pie with a fluffier texture. It definately had a holiday spice feeling to it that was nice. It was garnished with pomegrante seeds which were very interesting texturly. All in all great meal, but I'm sticking with the pasta next time.