after dinner sneeze

when I first walked in, I knew we had to get me some charcuterie – as they had several logs of meat behind some kind of charcuterie counter on the right … just waiting to be sliced paper-thin.  We ordered the meat board, and it came with some cheese, olives, pickled items, and bread which looked a lot like nan, but was probably just some plain pizza dough rolled out.  This was one helluva serious board!  Oddly, we found the meat to be pretty unremarkable – i mean there was great texture, but we could have used more flavor in both meats.  Similarly, the cheeses were just “fine”, both being mild (and one coming across as a pretty plain cheddar – although who knows what it really was).  Ultimately, the ample bread was the most interesting part, allowing us to construct little mini-pizzas from meat, cheese, and jams.  They just gotta step up that meat and cheese to get a real nod of approval.

the ravioli of the day, featuring rabbit, was pretty delicious, albeit small.  the flavor was interesting because it had a very potent herbed essence that hit me in the back of my mouth/palate exactly like the secret-ingredient-laden KFC original recipe.  i’m not sure if zavino would want that, but i know i loved it.  a agreed with its chickenyness – not necessarily the KFC-ness, but he, too, liked it quite a bit.

the pizza was a site to behold.  “the stache” as it’s called had a gloriously prepared whole wheat crust, as well as pesto and arugula.  i can see how some of the previous critics laid into the doughiness of the crust (it’s not paper thin and has some squish to it), but I kind of like that!  that’s pizza!  this isn’t just some thin slice of grilled bread with toppings – this is pizza!  a decided that he and v are going to totally rip this combination of ingredients for their future homemade pizzas – he just has to convince v to use their pizza stone.

so with the above criticisms I’ve laid down, why did I feel like this meal was worthy of “awesome”.  this is the key, right here.  the real winner of the meal was this rose, which contained everything i want in a summer drinking rose: berry nose, little bit of tropical fruit, finishes with a clean refreshing zip … it’s quite wonderful!

so what lunch would be complete without dessert?  i didn’t want to stick with one at zavino, as I was in the mood for some coffee at Joe just down the street.  while waiting in line, a jar of cookies caught my eye.  i immediately resolved to get one … right up until i found that they were vegan …  but then, maybe that one glass of wine had me in a buzz, but somehow, as i thought, “why would someone want to eat a vegan cookie?”, i jumped to: “why the hell not?” – and plunked down a whole $2.25 for a single cookie.  in the end, it was pretty darn good. it reminded me of a snickerdoodle cookie, but with less cinnamon, some good chocolate chips, and a nice hit of salt.  while the cookie had far less cakeinness than I enjoy (it was more like crystalline sugar), it was not a bad showing for a cookie … I wouldn’t buy another … but I wouldn’t avoid one if it was put in front of me.