It’s that time of year again: Restaurant Week. Thru August 18, many restaurants will be offering a special menu for $35. And a lot of those restaurants will put out a menu of limited choices or not really their best stuff. Not us! We are offering a tasting menu of our classics and a couple of new favorites! Or just enjoy our regular menu a la carte! SO if you have to have burrata, caprese or softies you can! It’s your choice!! And yes, you can order the tasting menu for some at the table and ala carte for others!
Since this is our last time to be in Restaurant Week or not, we are choosing NOT. But we do want to offer something special to our fans, so we will have our Best of the Grotto tasting menu for $35 per person. It runs thru Sunday, August 18.
We will have a couple of cold soup shooters to start: Cream of Local Heirloom Tomato, or Melon Gazpacho. Both have our local heirloom tomato essence as the base.
- Chilled local heirloom tomato soup has cream, veggies, and thyme to make a great tomato flavored soup served cold with a drop of pesto.
- The Gaspacho has a blend of chopped melon from Garner (watermelon, canary & honeydew at time of writing) in a tomato broth seasoned with sherry vinegar, garlic, citrus and garnished with minced sweet pepper, & local cukes.
Next up is a selection of our most requested antipasti.
Enjoy a taste of all of the following
- Mini Caprese: a slice of local heirloom tomato fresh mozzarella di bufala, a slice of local cuke drizzled with aged balsamico and really good olio.
- Bruschetta: greens currently beet green, kale & chard, all local, sauteed w/garlic, shallot & lemon atop a piece of our grilled ciabatta.
- Grilled nectarine: this week we have white nectarines which we wrap in local pancetta from Terre di Siena in Richmond, griddled & topped with mascarpone & saba
- Local Veggie antipasto: we will start off with local beet salad w/tzatziki. This is currently part of our veggie antipasto and it draws raves!
Then, the table chooses 3 pasta or entrees from the following.
- Cinghiale: one of the two dishes that has been on every menu since the first day there was a Dino
- Lasagnette: our over the top, free form take on lasagne w/veal & pork ragu, fonduta {rich white cheese sauce}, bacon & a ton of cheese. This is the other pasta that has never been off the menu
- Cannelloni: spinach & ricotta wrapped in a house pasta sheet w/tomato & a touch of cream
- Risotto: summer veggie risotto, currently corn & zucchini
- Aglione: Heirloom tomato sauteed in abundant garlic and served w/roast garlic {a montalcino classic}
- Grilled Eggplant alla Parmigiana: grotto style redolent with smoked mozz
- Rosticiana: Tuscan style grilled pork ribs – crispy on the outside, toothy in the middle
- Zuppa di Pesce: This is our fra diavolo {shellfish & fish in a rich tomato sauce} served on grilled bread instead of pasta
To finish, a bit of robiolina with truffle honey! A fitting end to a meal from the Grotto which has been known for its cheese selection for over 14 years! Served with a splash of cello!
For wine lovers, we will offer wine Madness: 50% of all wnes $60+ including our cellar trasure wines by the glass! Imagine a three out tasting portion of a 99 Brunello 1999 for $24.50! Or an incredible old Brunello for around $100 a bottle. Or a delicious chianti riserva from $34.50