City Restaurant Week: Cafe Mezzanotte

By SHRUTI L. MATHUR

At Cafe Mezzanotte, I was happy to see a full dining room and bar when my boyfriend and I strolled in a few minutes early for our 7 p.m. reservation.

He commented that, for some reason, he felt we were in a senior dining hall. It could be the clutches of blazer-clad ladies that surrounded our little two-top. However, 15 minutes later, all those ladies scurried out, holding theater tickets and we were left with a near empty dining room, except for a group of what looked like three corporate colleagues, a man with his date, Miss Blackberry, and a two intimidating-looking men.

The departing diners left huge dishes of half-eaten pasta on the table, the leftovers looking like enough to be a full meal. I hoped out loud that our Restaurant Week portions would be as sizable.

But first things first: I needed some wine. I noticed that most of the dishes on the Restaurant Week menu were also listed in the regular menu, and the entrees had suggested wine pairings. Except for the Ravioli Blush, which I had decided on.

Being somewhat of a novice to wine pairings, I asked my waitress for a recommendation but she was unsure so she had to ask someone else. I had my doubts, thinking maybe I should have just chosen a wine, but within a minute she came back and said the chef himself suggested the Cabernet Sauvignon. I ordered it.

The customary basket of bread was already on the table when we arrived, but instead of the usual olive oil and pepper, a dish of olive oil flavored with finely chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic and herbs sat on the table. Spread on the light, tasty bread, it tasted like bruschetta, or something I might have ordered from the menu, not a freebie with every meal.

I started my meal with the crab-stuffed oysters, which were delicious. Good size chunks of crab meat filled each oyster shell, surrounding the oyster meat inside. Four shells were presented on a bed of salad. I thought I might only get one or two shells.

The shrimp salad my boyfriend ordered had a pile of spinach, with a tangy dressing, surrounded by four plump shrimp and four wedges of toasted bread. He felt the shrimp were oversalted, but loved the spinach and bread. This was a good start. If the meal follows this pattern, we are set.

And really, I really, really wanted it to.

But it didn't.

The ravioli pockets itself were delicious, filled with a good blend of cheeses. Unfortunately, the carrot-colored blush sauce, which had a cheek-tingling tang on the first bite, was overall fairly bland; I got tired of eating it halfway through the dish.

The chicken calabrese, topped with bacon and cheeses with olives and normally $22 on the regular menu, was equally disappointing--after trying a bite, I whispered to my boyfriend "it tastes like something I could make myself."

The accompanying boat of steamed vegetables went untouched. And that was a problem. It's not that the food was unedible, but it didn't taste like anything I wanted to pay $105 for, including two glasses of wine and the tip. I felt I could have had the same meal at Olive Garden, and probably for less.

Mezzanotte seems like a good spot for the afterwork corporate crowd, which seemed to stay around the bar, ordering small plates to go with their booze, or the pre-theater crowd, also more interested in wine than food.

I heard a waitress mention that the restaurant hosted a lot of wedding rehearsal dinners and the like, and that is what the food tasted like: a catering menu for a banquet hall. I ate a good chunk of my cannoli, and I thought my boyfriend was going to lick the plate clean of his tiramisu.

But when I pressed him later on the tiramisu, he admitted that it wasn't the best tiramisu he's ever had. The ladyfingers were good, but it lacked the signature espresso flavor.

"It just tasted really good after that entree," he said.

Contact Shurti L. Mathur at 324-2888 or smathur@delawareonline.com.