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SideDish Supper Club at Nonna: First Look

By Sarah Eveans |
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Zucchini blossoms from Nonna.
Zucchini blossoms from Nonna.

Last night’s SideDish Supper Club at Nonna was a delicious success. We hope you will chime in with comments if you were there. I’ve got photos after the jump, but this is a picture of the first course, the antipasti. The baked zucchini blossoms (from Tom Spicer, as chef Barsotti explained to us before we ate) stuffed with Paula Lambert’s goat’s milk ricotta were one of my favorite dishes of the night.

Mortadella, porchetta, and tonno del Chianti
Mortadella, porchetta, and tonno del Chianti

The mortadella, porchetta, and tonno del Chianti were served on one plate. Tonno del Chianti translates to tuna of Chianti, but it’s actually pork that has been cooked for a long time and marinated in olive oil. It was served on top of crunchy, grilled bread and it really does look like tuna. I loved the porchetta, too.

I’m looking at the menu and realizing we didn’t get to try the sformato of potato and ricotta with pesto. Shoot. Someone else will have to tell me how it was (can’t believe I didn’t notice that until now).

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Pappa al pomodoro

This was my favorite course of the night. The pappa al pomodoro soup is tomato soup, thickened by bread. And, it was thick–the consistency of oatmeal.Chef Barsotti used the last of the season’s tomatoes from east Texas.

Pici pasta with wild boar ragu
Pici pasta with wild boar ragu

You’re going to have to turn your head to the side for this one. I apologize. Someone who actually knows how to take photos and upload them properly is going to do it later. This is the pici pasta that the chefs at Nonna have been making for three days. The pici are really like long, thick spaghetti, and the wild boar ragu (made with boar from Broken Arrow Ranch) was hearty, but in a delicate way. I actually thought the ragu was a bit on the salty side, but I still loved it.

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The arista, or saddle, of pork

This is the arista of Berkshire pork. It was extremely tender, with a kick in the end I asked the chef about. He said the heat was from Calabrian chiles.

Fritto misto
Fritto misto

This is the fritto misto, with Gulf shrimp and oysters and seasonal vegetables. I only tried one small bite but this was fantastic, of course.

Contorni
Contorni

This are the sides, or the contorni. In the back is Anson Mills polenta with mascarpone and Pecornino Toscana, creamy and spread thin. The other dish contains the braised Cavolo Nero (a type of kale) and the corona beans, which I loved.

Dessert
Dessert

Here, we have East Texas peaches roasted with Vin Santo, an Italian dessert wine, candied walnuts, and Tuscan honey gelato. I loved the nuts and the peaches, but the gelato wasn’t for me. It had a very flowery flavor that I didn’t care for, but I know I was the only one. Everyone else loved it. But the dinner was fantastic overall. My favorite dishes were: 1) the soup 2) pici 3) squash blossoms. If you were there, please chime in with your thoughts.

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