Hyde Park, NY
http://www.ciachef.edu
by Zachary Borovay
Like
many Slopers with cars, my girlfriend Marna and I often find ourselves
entangled in the great "Alternate Side of the Street" debate on a
Saturday morning: should we go out of town for the weekend and give up
our prized Friday spot? Well, last weekend we thankfully did. Only two
hours away from the Slope, we found ourselves on a windy old two-lane
highway with cows to our left and tree covered mountains to our right.
Marna
called ahead to see if there were any cancellations and managed to land
a reservation at Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici, the Italian restaurant
at the Culinary Institute of America’s "restaurant row" (the other
restaurants at the school are French, American, a bakery/cafe, a family
cafe and a restaurant specializing in California wines).
Ristorante
Medici is part of the Colavita (yes, the olive oil company) Center for
Food and Wine. In fact, it was fun to see the different schools and
they respective sponsors, like the General Foods Nutrition Center and
the Shunsuke Takaki School of Baking and Pastry.
A
few summers ago, we discovered that many of the high-end culinary
schools have student-run restaurants where aspiring Bobby Flays and
Mario Batalis perfect their craft. These restaurants usually offer 4
star service and food quality, while?maintaining very low prices. And
as an aspiring chef (well, at least as a Food Network addict), it is
always interesting for me to? chat with the students about what they
are learning and how they are applying it to our meal.
Our
meal began with a lovely white bean spread and some rustic toasted
bread. I find it is always a nice change of pace when something other
than butter is presented with the bread at the head of the meal. Our
server was quite friendly, and really provided an interesting window
into what her studies were like. When we inquired about a particular
white wine, she informed us that she had just tried it that afternoon
in her wine tasting class. Oh, if only I could be in that class too!
For
the antipasti course, we selected the Tagliere di Salumi Misti con
Sott’Aceti (Italian cured meats with house-made pickled vegetables) and
the Cicchetti Misti, a selection of tastings including fresh mozzarella
in olive oil, panzanella (bread salad), grilled strawberries in
balsamic vinegar and very thinly sliced fried zucchini with crushed
chili flakes. The generous portions of prosciutto and other meats were
pretty tasty, but definitely not house-cured. The tastings were small,
but all bursting with flavor. Each was also very different in texture,
color and sweetness/tartness than the next.
For
our primi piatti (first course), we had the Orecchiette Baresi con
Salsiccia e Rapette (orecchiette pasta with Italian sausage and
broccoli rabe) and Gnocchi con Pomodoro, Basilico, Ricotta e Grana
Padano (gnocchi with cherry tomatoes, basil and ricotta cheese). The
orecchiette with sausage, a favorite dish of mine, was executed to
perfection. The pasta was perfectly al dente, while the sausage was
sweet and savory, and the broccoli rabe added just the right amount of
tartness to the dish. The gnocchi were also quite good, again though
seeming to have been store bought pre-fab, while the sauce surrounding
it was light and crisp with delicate cherry tomatoes that had a
pleasant pop when eaten.
Our
secondi piatti included the Costolette Di Maiale con Peperoni Agro
Dolci e Scarole (roasted pork T-bone chop with sweet and hot peppers
and escarole) and the Denitice Rosolato con Verdure alla Griglia e
Olive Siciliane (red snapper with Sicilian olive dressing and grilled
vegetable ragout). The pork chop was prepared very simply, which
allowed the flavor of the perfectly cooked meat to shine through. The
surrounding escarole was a very nice complement to the sweet taste of
the pork. The red snapper had a nice citrus flavor to it, with olives
and capers providing some nice saltiness to balance out the dish as
well.
When
it came time for dolci (dessert), we asked our server about a
particular almond paste and pine nut cookie I enjoyed at Sette on 7th
Ave. here in the Slope recently. She came back from the kitchen
explaining that the chef knew of that kind of cookie, but that the
baked goods had already been prepared by the pastry students earlier in
the day and she gave us a little sample of the cookies they had made
(all good, but none as remarkable as the Sette cookie). We settled on a
nice little bit of gelato to finish the meal. It was flavorful, not
overly sweet, and featured that extra bit of creaminess that separates
gelato from traditional American ice cream.
While
our server was very professional, her knowledge seemed a bit limited in
the pairings of foods and wines, and her recommendations seemed a bit
unsure. But I can hardly hold it against her, as she was a student
learning about these things. Those kinds of experiences come with the
territory at a culinary school restaurant. Overall, the service was
very good and our server was very pleasant and attentive. The food was
definitely worth the trek. While it wasn’t cheap, it was probably about
half the price of a meal of equal quality in NYC.
If
you are looking for a high-end meal without the high-end price, check
out the local cooking school and see if they have a restaurant! (Boy,
that sounded like Rachel Ray, didn’t it?)
When he’s not producing award winning projection designs on and off Broadway, Zachary Borovay, a Food Network junkie and Park Slope foodie, is eating or writing about it.