Fat Friday - Mercatto

It's been a while since I've posted a Fat Friday, and be honest, it's been a while since we've enjoyed one! But we went to Mercatto about 2 weeks back and thought it was due time to post the review. Although I neglected to take any photos while I was there, hopefully you can envision the meals as you read on (ok, forgot wasn't really the right word. It was more of "it was a really small and crowded place, and I felt slightly odd taking photos of our food. But on that note, a great place for people watching! We thought the couple next to us were on a first date and imagined that their parents set them up, as they seemed to have nothing really in common.) 

Though the restaurant was small, it was quaint, and you definitely had to be OK with letting people in to your personal space, as tables were set closely together, something I find many Italian eateries have in common. But that seemed to make it really cozy and intimate, and we enjoyed our candle lit dinner for two, a great way to relax after a long week at work. 

Matt had read some great reviews about Mercatto, and in particular, their antipasti choices, so he was excited to taste test, as was I. Their Antipasti Misti lets you choose 2 verdu (vegetables), 2 salumi (meats), and 2 formaggi (cheeses) from a selection of six options. We also got a chance to practice some Italian! So the platter we put together consisted of raddichio and barbabietole (beets) for our verdu; prosciutto and bresaola (cured beef) for our salumi; and Piave (12 month aged hard cow's milk) and burrata (fresh buffalo milk) for our formaggi. The platter that arrived looked similar to the one on the left (an image I found on Google), with a couple changes to the verdu choices. 

Eating that platter with the fresh bread and olive oil supplied at the table really made for a great starter. We loved the meats, as we knew we would (we are carnivores, after all), and the cheeses were a really nice compliment to the saltiness of the salumi. The verdu part, however, we didn't love. The beets were nice, but the radicchio salad was a little too bitter for our tastes. Next time we should ask if we can just skip the verdu and have an extra salumi and formaggi.... ha! 

On to the main course (which I already knew I wasn't going to be able to finish). We both were in the mood for pasta, and Matt had no problems deciding on his dish - Bucatini. Fresh pasta served with tomato sauce, pancetta, smoked Italian bacon, and pecorino cheese. Matt really likes the spiciness of the dish, and this is usually a favourite of his. As for me, I went back and forth between a couple dishes but finally decided on the Taglietelle with almond pesto, sun dried tomatoes, and arugula. I went outside my normal comfort zone to try the almond pesto, and it was good! 

With more pasta choices on the menu that peaked our interest, I'm sure we'll head back there again. Plus, there was a whole Pizza menu we didn't even look at!