On Monday night, I had dinner with Rob Connoley (@gfron1). Jealous? You should be. We arranged to meet at Louie on deMun Ave at 5:45 p.m., their only available timeslot. The place was packed.
Rob is a famous guy in St Louis so the owner kept sending us extra wine and food. Lucky for us. And Rob had not yet had time to celebrate his James Beard nomination, so we were very merry.
We started with house made focaccia, 3" thick, with a nice puddle of olive oil. Throughout dinner, the waitress kept offering to clear away my unfinished bread, but I insisted on hanging on to it (all the better to wipe up the sauces with 😃)
The first course was Grilled Spanish Octopus, with small red red potatoes, chickpeas and Soppressata. The pan sauce was made from sautéing the chickpeas with Soppressata. The sauce was outrageously good (focaccia helpful). To my uneducated palate, there were undertones of chile/paprika and chocolate.
Paired by the restaurant, we drank 2020 Abbazia di Novacella Kerner | Trentino-Also Adige
The second course, a special, was sweet potato ravioli in brown butter with a little lemon, smoked Ricotta salata, topped with almonds and chive and basil (focaccia helpful).
Also paired by the restaurant, we drank 2020 Terradora di Paolo Falanghina | Campania
The third and fourth courses came together. One was a loose Roman Gnocco (a texture similar to mashed potato), with pork ragù, Béchamel sauce, topped with Pecorino (focaccia helpful). And the other course was pizza Norma with eggplant, tomato, basil, Ricotta salata.
Paired by the restaurant was 2019 Terre Nere Etna Rosso | Sicily (Narello Mascalese, Narello Cappuccio). I had also brought along a bottle of fruity Peterson Zinfandel.
Excellent celebration. And Rob is a most interesting dinner companion.
In the end my focaccia was unfinished and there were leftovers for Rob for the morrow.
This time I stayed in a green room at Angad Arts hotel.
Road trip? I would go back in a Hot Minute!
