After you enter the bar area Boccadoro splits into 2 rooms, one to either side and one really small room separated by a beautiful glass sculpture. Patio seating is available if weather permits. The lighting is low with soft jazz music in the background. An elegant setting, there is lots of art on the walls, exposed beams in the ceiling and pretty tile on the floor. It is old school with ladies menus having no prices. The staff is friendly and very helpful. Our waiter, Simone, easily suggested what we should order and we were wise to follow his plan. It turns out he is the son of Chef Luciano Orlandi, so he really had the inside track.
While we looked over the large menu we tried their version of spritz, the drink of Venice, and it very tasty.
Our first dish was to split a plate of raw local seafood. It included wild sea bream with honey and strawberries, scampi and tuna tartar. The tuna tartar was very nice as were the scampi. However the sea bream was outstanding, mixed with the honey, pomegranate seeds, greens and strawberries, it was a wonderful and interesting combination. A bit of balsamic was along the side for accent as wanted. A good plate!
They also brought a plate of 3 types of breads which were a bit dry and not really needed.
Next was a platter of cooked seafoods, including spider crab, anchovy, shrimp, baby octopus, squid roe, welks, canoce (Mantis shrimp) and polenta with shrimp. All were wonderfully fresh and perfectly cooked. The squid roe, which are the white discs, were new to me and had a totally mild, appealing taste. Olive oil was generously dotted on the plate to add even more flavor to the mild tastes. It was a great variety of flavors and textures and a really nice version of a mixed platter of freshness.
The Tagliolini ‘of the day’ was pasta with shrimp with a broccoli pesto and chunks of perfectly cooked shrimp. The pasta was amazing as were the shrimp. The sauce was a unique and wonderful and the serving was just the right amount.
We finished with John Dory fillets with a brodo sauce (made from fish stock). They were served with roasted potatoes, endive (chicory), eggplant and asparagus. All the vegetables were nicely fresh and tasty and the fish had not a hint of dryness. Everything was mildly seasoned yet incredibly tasty. This simple plate was fantastic.
We decided to make grappa our dessert and the waiter had a ritual to make it really outstanding. He fills brandy snifter with hot water, empties them and then pours in the grappa. The aroma is amazing with this simple trick. You don’t even need to drink any the first couple tips of the glass. I may have to try this at home.
