Where to Eat - Locanda

I finally tried Locanda the other night and it totally lived up to the hype. I sipped on a Helen di Montenegro while my brother tried the Strawberry Fizz. The bartenders were super accomodating and adorable while we waited for a table. My drink had tequila, amaro, agave, grapefruit and lime. It was delish. Chris' drink had bourbon, strawberry, lemon, egg white, and seltzer. It was yummy but I could definitely see it as going down a little too easy. Fair warning!

When we sat down we got some of the best focaccia I've ever had. Salty with the perfect amount of good quality olive oil. I ate my two slices embarrassingly fast.

We started with the Dungeness Crab and Sorrel Soup with chili and croutons. I was really excited for this, in fact I picked it as the starter I wanted. Sadly, I was not into it. The soup itself was good and the crab and croutons great but I realized unfortunately I am not a fan of sorrel so it never had a chance. Not a reflection of the food but more of my taste.

Next we had the Carciofi Crudi. This salad of shaved artichokes, grilled ricotta, wild arugula and avocado was simple and perfect. I'm not sure I've ever had grilled ricotta before but it's pretty genius. I really enjoyed how light and fresh it was.

We had the Fried Sweetbreads with Artichokes and capers next. These were probably the best sweetbreads I've ever had. In my previous post I said the sweetbreads at Park Tavern were great starter sweetbreads for hesitant first timers. These sweetbreads were sweetbreads for people who enjoy them. They were so lightly breaded, not over salted or too greasy. The capers and lemon gave it a nice touch too.

We finished with a pasta each. Chris had the Linguini with littleneck clams, guanciale and ramps. It looked great and he said as much. I had the above Bucatini all'Amatriciana. The simple pasta with guanciale, tomato, peperoncini and pecorino was perfect. It wasn't trying to hard, it just let the quality ingredients speak.

I can't wait to go back and try another pasta and the Pizza Bianca.