and suddenly finds himself summoned to divulge the price of a dish of six chicken wings.
Another was the dango ($6), a dish of four mashed potato and rice flour fritters dusted with powered sugar.
And a dish of three venison-stuffed mushrooms with melted Gruyère was too salty — a theme that plagues Lepri's.
A surprise hit was a dish of six grilled shrimp atop a bed of macaroni and cheese with a crunchy crust.
A top pick is a dish of four grilled jumbo shrimp ($9), with a garlicky marinade-glaze sprinkled with a tomato and corn confetti, presented on a bed of greens and accompanied by cilantro aioli.
Sostanza is famous for a miraculous spun omelette with artichokes, which arrives looking like a meringue nest, and for a dish of two roasted chicken breasts in a pan frothing with butter.
Sostanza is famous for a miraculous spun omelette with artichokes which arrives at the table looking like a meringue nest, and for a dish of two roasted chicken breasts in a pan frothing over with butter.
Sometimes they meet, as in a dish of two carpaccios: in a successful twist, the tuna is served like tagliata with rocket and parmesan, the steak tonnato-style with anchovy- and tuna-laced mayo.
A lovely brunch appetizer that is enough to share or to have as a main course is a dish of six to eight grilled mushroom caps, each holding a poached quail egg, and all adrift in a tarragon-flavored Hollandaise sauce.
Two sides also made good openers: corn on the cob — two ears cut in half and served dripping with butter — and a dish of two varieties of local beets paired with creamy goat cheese from the Catapano Dairy Farm, all sprinkled with fresh herbs and coarse salt.
An entry marked "prawn" might eventually lead to a dish of four ruby red shrimp set atop a swoosh of butternut-squash bisque, the pink crescents layered with diamonds of pickled butternut squash and compressed butternut-squash wedges cooked sous vide, then seared until caramelized.
