Varasano's

Well, part of the reason I am so behind on my blogging is that I wanted to keep posts in chronological order. At this point however, any blogging is a step up, so I'm going to go out of order.

A couple weeks ago, J & I went to Varasano's with M&N for dinner. With more people, you are able to try more stuff which is always a good way to try a new restaurant.

We started off with the caprese salad. Tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella were arrayed on the plate. Small pools of olive oil and aged balsamic stayed isolated in their own corners of the ceramic plate. Personally, I like it when it comes pre-drizzled, so this was a bit awkward. I believe the waiter talked up heirloom tomatoes for this dish, but it was clear they were not.

We ordered a few pizzas at once and they just kept rolling out of the kitchen. That's a divine way to eat.

We started off with the Nana, the house special. It's described on the menu as mozzarella and tomato sauce with a secret blend of Italian herbs. Typically I like to start off with a margherita, but the waiter mentioned the nana was better. And it was so good. The nice fat pieces of mozzarella were tasty, the herbs were all fresh. This is a damn good pizza.

The salumi was also tasty. j was happy with it. Topped with Italian meats and olives, the pizza was tasty, though not my favorite. It was not greasy like a normal pepperoni pizza would be.

Moving on, we had the Nucci -- garlic, olives, and emmenthaler finished with arugula, capocollo, and herbs. I was surprised at how much I liked this given that I don't normally like arugula, but it matched perfectly.

The last of the dinner pizzas was the New Haven Clam which you can get as red or white. Even if Jeff Varasano marked Pepe's as a 9 in his list of top pizzas of the world, I prefer the original New Haven clam. Varasano's version was garlicky and clammy, but there were large gaps of uncovered dough. I just found the distribution of clams to be rather sad. Of course I will order this again -- I don't know where else to get it -- but next time I will ask for extra clams.

At the end of it all, we were definitely stuffed, but we ordered the Dolce anyway. Medjool dates and fontina with honey, walnuts, and rosemary. I was surprised that I liked it, but then it just got to be too much.

All in all, Varasano's was very good. In the future, I see us getting two pies, maybe three if we want leftovers, but that begins to get pricey for a pizza night. I've already had cravings for the clam pizza.