I had been hearing about the corn pasta dish at Cotogna, but we had never had it, so I made a reservation for us to finally try it. This time I picked seating outside in one of their extensive set of parklets (they almost extend the entire block since they make use of the street in front of both Cotogna and Quince. This is our fifth time dining her, but only our second outside. We were seated a bit further down the street and as it turns out it we were across from the Quince kitchen; we had never realized that the kitchen had an open window where you could see everything from the street. Perhaps they did this during their semi-recent renovation and we just didn’t notice when we last visited.
We started with cocktails as per our usual. Andrea went with the mezcal-based Coppa Di Estate and I went with the gin-based Negroni Bianco. They have a good cocktail program here and these were both enjoyable.
We ordered a couple starters, the Fresh Farm Lettuces and the Burrata & Heirloom Tomato Caprese, we both ordered the Corn Triangoli pasta with truffle, and we ordered the Watson Farm Lamb Cooked in the Hearth to share. The starters were both simply dressed and largely let the produce speak for themselves, which were well spoken.
But we were here for the pasta this time and it didn’t disappoint…delicate ravioli with a buttery sauce and the sweetness from the corn and additional aromatics from the Australian winter truffle (Andrea seemed to have a bit of a cold or sinus issue since she couldn’t smell the truffle at all and she normally has a vastly more sensitive nose than I do. Quel dommage (or sayang in Tagalog)! I was seriously tempted to place another order to go along with our lamb entrée, but we showed restraint (remarkable for us) and a good thing too since we our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs.
Two visits ago, we had also ordered the lamb, but then it was lamb shank. This was two cuts of lamb, very tender and cooked to nicely.
For dessert, I ordered us both the Strawberry Meringata and the Cheese Selection. I love strawberries, but I’m not a big fan of meringue, so I enjoyed the presentation of the meringue, but not the taste so much, although the strawberries and vanilla gelato were tasty. On the cheese plate, all of them were delicious – a Sagittarius sheep and cow’s milk cheese from Paso Robles, an Alta Badia cow’s milk cheese from Alto Adige, and an Original Blue cow’s milk cheese from Point Reyes.
Another great meal and so reasonably priced compared to so many of the Michelin-starred restaurants (including their big sister restaurant Quince) and more relaxed and easy to just enjoy. Definitely looking forward to coming back.
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