Maybe that explains why I’m impressed by young chefs who exhibit a cooking maturity beyond their years. (Remember Kevin from this past season of Top Chef?  Dude was 26!)

I attended a chef’s tasting dinner last week at Morello Bistro; when the restaurant’s new Executive Chef, Mark Medina-Rios, introduced himself to our table, I thought, Whoaaa, that guy’s young! He is. He’s 25.  And I’m impressed.  Not just because he’s an accomplished chef, but because he’s got the necessary chops to shape a menu and run a kitchen in a town (Greenwich, CT) where I imagine the diners are incredibly food savvy and armed with high expectations.

Morello is certainly an atmospheric space to have a meal.  The building, once a bank, is an historical landmark; the design of the interior with vaulted ceilings, columns and mezzanines, is gorgeous.  My pictures don’t do it justice.

Chef Medina-Rios explained the night’s dishes to us and told us a little bit about the restaurant’s Italian–Mediterranean influenced and seasonal menu.

Then it was time to eat.

Antipasto

We were started off with whipped ricotta with honey-balsamic dressing and grilled cibatta.  I was starving and dove into it before remembering to take a picture.  Thus, the messiness.

Primo

A nicely acidic and meaty Octopus Calabrese.

Secondo

Porchetta with pickled red onions and pine nuts.

In a demonstration of my stupidity, I wondered aloud, “What kind of meat is on top?  It tastes like turkey.”  I’d forgotten what we eating… porchetta, which is slow-roasted, seasoned pork.  I’m an idiot.

Pasta

Next, homemade mushroom ravioli.

Great bite to these.  I finished one, got lost in conversation with my tablemates, turned back, and my plate was gone!  The server must have thought I was finished.  So sadly, I missed out on the second ravioli.

Pesce

Swordfish on a tomato caper sauce with white anchovies and cipollini onion.

Carne

Everything led up to this highlight, the lamb.

I waffle on lamb – sometimes I find it too gamey; at other times, as in this case, the meat has a pure, clean flavor to it, and I love it.  This lamb had been had been marinated in thyme, rosemary and garlic and roasted to a perfect medium-rare.

Dolce

For dessert, warm bomboloni arrived with a side of chocolate sauce.  If you read my Mima Vinoteca post, you know how I feel about these things.  Balls of fried dough are firmly in my wheelhouse.  Couldn’t have asked for a better way to finish a meal.

Chef Medina-Rios came by one more time, and we thanked and congratulated him for a terrific tasting dinner.  Naturally, we asked about his age, which I’m sure he’s getting sick of.  Also found out he’s from London and has been in the states and at Morello Bistro, for seven months.

Here’s wishing him well in his new venture!

Morello Bistro
253 Greenwich Ave.
Greenwich, CT
203-661-3443

Westchester?  Different story.  In fact, a Google search for soft pretzels in Westchester turned up a big fat goose egg.  There has to be some place around here that sells them, doesn’t there?

I turned to Connecticut, and the one bakery I know of that bakes pretzels (only on Saturdays): Black Forest Pastry Shop in Greenwich.

The cakes and pastries here look amazing, they really do.  But that vaunted pretzel, written up in publications like Westchester Magazine?   I was a little underwhelmed.

The taste was good and there was the right amount of salt.  But I was expecting the pretzel to be warm.  It wasn’t.  More disappointing, mine was decidedly on the semi-stale side. Perhaps the thing to do is get there early in the morning when the pretzels are fresh out of the oven?

A few weeks ago, my sister whipped up a batch of homemade soft pretzels — nothing against Black Forest Pastry shop, but hers were better.

I need to get that recipe.

Black Forest Pastry Shop
52 Lewis St.
Greenwich, CT
203-629-9330