there are only 4 reasons to have lunch with an ex
the place: rocca, 500 harrison ave, south end
the date: thursday, 03.26.09
the plan: restaurant week dinner
in my life, I’ve had 3 main restaurant week buddies— ryan, sharon, & the ex. ryan was busy with his current bf in town, sharon has relocated to the opposite coast, and the ex is, well, ex. so, it seemed there were to be no restaurant week dinners on my agenda this year. except than the ex said we should go anyway and I guess that falls into the category of things you can do when trying to be friends. and I’d been telling him he should try rocca for ages, so off we went.
drinks, of course: we had a reservation. we arrived on time. and still we hovered at the bar long enough to wait for someone to notice us, have a long conversation, drink a cocktail, and chat with a friendly man about olives. I think that reservations should lead to tables, not waiting. or, if there’s some really weird turn-over issue, then at least an apology and a short wait. this was very clearly a planned wait. the cocktails were fine— mine was fruity and tart with booze and whine, the ex’s was way too strong, all rum-all-the-time.
I honestly don’t remember the wine— I think he had a decent but uninteresting red (a san giovese, maybe) and I had a white that completely clashed with my meal. I know it’s my choice, but I’d like a waiter who is able to steer me away from something, especially when I note that I’m ordering it because it’s something I’ve never tried before.
to start: restaurant week menu had quite a few options, which is always nice. for an app I chose the scampi and recieved two plump, tasty shrimp (avec face, for those even more squeamish than me) which we both enjoyed. the ex got some gnocci with pesto which was fine, but bland. point, me. (not that we were competing or anything…)
the main event: I love salmon and yet I almost never order it. this is because I find that it’s most often available to me in one of two ways: wedding-style overcooked and practically raw. obviously, raw is preferable here, but if I wanted sushi, I’d be having sushi. still, the options on the menu were meat-heavy and I tend not to be a big meat-eater and I’d had the veggie option on my last visit (lasanga, highly recommended), so I went ahead and risked the salmon. and oh! perfectly prepared salmon nirvana at last! translucent and pink in the center, but actually cooked. and the sauce was flavorful as well. the ex’s pork short ribs, however, were probably the winner of that course.
sweet treat: I would prefer never to think of this dessert ever again, let alone write about it. so, in brief, orange passionfruit semifreddo that was intolerably sweet for me, boring and blah chocolate cake for him.
this was my fourth time at rocca and I’ve been slightly less impressed each time. I’m not sure I’ll be going back anytime soon. they started off with an impressive, very italian menu and I feel like it’s kind of become a bit more “americanized” and is now barely distinguishable from something like stella, but not as well done. what I liked about rocca at first can all be found at scampo now, though with a higher price tag. it’s too bad when a place starts out with such promise and ends up uninteresting, though perhaps that makes it the perfect place (metaphorically speaking) for dinner with the ex.
