Experience Authentic Italian in Ballantyne with Zinicola

Background: 
Richard Cranmer and his wife Najiya opened Zinicola in Ballantyne in 2017. The name Zinicola is taken from Chef Cranmer's mother's maiden name, and family heritage is central to the restaurant's mission. Growing up, Cranmer would take summer trips to visit his Nonna in Italy, and she continues to inspire his cuisine today. We were invited out in earlier in August to sample their menu and hear more about their commitment to chef-driven and authentic Italian cuisine. 

Eat This: 
All of Zinicola's food is made fresh and in-house, including their pasta and pizzas. We particularly loved the Parmesan basket that the risotto was served in, and the creativity that went into the heirloom tomato salad. 

Beef Carpaccio

tomato jam, parmigiana gel, arugula

Heirloom Tomato Salad

tomato cannellini, black tomato sauce, basil

The cannellini was made with a tomato gel instead of pasta--so cool!

Roasted OCTOPUS

black risotto, saffron emulsion

Perfectly cooked.

FETTUCCINE

swordfish, mint, garlic, tomato, white wine

Risotto

parmigiana basket, Italian sausage, mushrooms

Rice in a Parmesean basket? Sign us up.

Ravioli

beef mushroom ricotta, wrapped in duck prosciutto, sage butter sauce

Hands down, our favorite pasta of the night.

Eggplant Wrapped Grouper

cannellini bean sauce, clams

Lamb Loin

eggplant puree, rosemary potato cake, zucchini, mint gel

The lamb was tender and flavorful, and the potato cake cured any lingering carb needs that remained after all that pasta!

Dessert: 
Do not sleep on Zinicola's dessert. This baby was my favorite dish of the evening. 

Pistachio Nutella Mascarpone

Bonus: this was gluten-free!

Drink: 
The wine menu and creative cocktail selection are finely curated. As your server for pairing suggestions. 

Watermelon Martini

Drink.

Basil Martini

Drank.

Strawberry Martini

Drunk.

Atmosphere: 
Zinicola is upscale, and the white tablecloths and candles will elevate your night out into a special occasion. There were plenty of couples on dates when we dined, but there were also a lot of families. The patio is busy on cooler nights, and this is where to sit for a more casual vibe. The bar is open to both the inside of the restaurant and the outside patio, so you have easy access to the fabulous cocktails pictured above. 

Hospitality: 
The Cranmers are such a fun couple, and they provide fine dining in an atmosphere that makes you feel right at home. We were well-fed and provided with everything we needed on this visit, and we can't wait to go back on our own soon. 

Frankie's Notes: 
Even a pug would drive to Ballantyne for food this good; They served us so many drinks that we needed a DD at the end of the night; All carbs should come in a cheese basket; Jason claims to not like cheesecake or cream cheese, but when it comes to dessert, he abandons all previously professed reservations; Chef Cranmer and his wife are pod listeners who say they bicker as much as we do--should we have a kvetch off?!

Disclaimer: This meal was provided free of charge in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All opinions are our own, and we were not compensated for this review.

 

108: Noma's Little Brother Holds Its Own

Background:
108 opened around the corner from the old Noma on July 27, 2016. Co-owned by Noma's Rene Redzepi and with Redzepi's trained head chef Kristian Baumann at the helm, 108 quickly rose to stardom as a way to get a less expensive piece of the Noma experience. 108 received its first Michelin Star shortly after opening and this summer was named #98 on the World's 100 Best Restaurants. 

We first came to 108 in the summer of 2017 because we wanted the Noma-lite experience. We love everything Noma, to the point where we probably should wear "I <3 Noma" t-shirts on the regular, so we couldn't have been more excited to land a reservation at 108. We had been the previous night to Noma Under the Bridge, which we L-O-V-E-ed, and we sat right next to a couple who flat out said 108 was better, so our expectations were sky high. 

Our experience the first time was a disappointment. The food was a mix of fine and inedible, with one dish being served literally with a cup full of raw flowers which was probably one of the worst things I've ever eaten. There were a few good dishes mixed in, but overall we were disappointed. As our waiter at Amass put it, "The dishes look good for Instagram, but that's about it."

We decided to give 108 another shot on our recent trip to Copenhagen, especially after we visited the new Noma, and we're so glad we did. The menu had been updated and all of the dishes were not only beautiful, but they tasted great as well. 108, you gave us a bad first impression, but here's to second chances. 

Eat This:
108 has an a la carte and a tasting menu, we elected both times to go a la carte, mainly because we had done so many tasting menus on both trips that we were tasted out. We're only going to focus on the items we tried this time, as the old ones were not that good.

Sourdough

Every place in Copenhagen has great sourdough bread. Every.single.one. 108 was no exception, and we could have eaten only this bread and walked out happy.

Greens & Herbs from Krogerup

with roasted seaweed

The summeriest of summer salads. All of the ingredients were picks from 108's farm that day. The middle contained an almond oil sorbet, which was mind-bowing. A huge upgrade from the crap flower bucket we had the previous year.

Raw Lamb

with last year's pickles

One constant at 108 is the stunning presentation. The dishes are gorgeous, every one of them. The flowers around the edge of this dish change not only daily, but minute to minute, with different tables getting different colored flowers. I'm a self-proclaimed lamb-oholic, so I loved this dish. The raw lamb and pickles made for a savory, gamey, and sour flavor that was delicious.

Brown Beech Mushrooms

with a smoked egg yolk sauce

This was a carryover from the previous year that was still on the menu, and the only dish we actually enjoyed the year before. The mushrooms were fried lightly and perfectly. Mixed with the yolk sauce, it felt like you were eating a fried steak.

Grilled Quail

with beetroot and warm spices

This was the one semi-miss of the night. The quail was good, and the sauce was good, but the dish didn't have a lot of flavor, and there wasn't enough meat on the bone to satisfy.  

Desserts:

Hot Dough Not

filled with caramel and seaweed ice cream

These babies were good. I could have eaten 100 of them, but three was probably a good choice so that I didn't gain 100 pounds. The icy seaweed ice cream offset the hot doughnut beautifully.

Sorbet of Wild Black Currants

with hazelnut milk

Another holdover from last year's menu. This was a play on the traditional Danish berries and cream dish, similar to the one we had at Noma. Sweet and refreshing.

Drink:
When we walked in, there was a glass of champagne waiting for us, welcoming us back to the restaurant. That's a nice touch that most restaurants don't do, and we really enjoyed that. 108 has a variety of wines, but we're lame drinkers, so we just got non-alcoholic juices. My favorites were a raspberry soda and a mandarin orange soda.

Last year's menu: don't look too closely--it wasn't good

Rhubarb soda

Atmosphere:
108 is a beautiful space located steps away from the harbor. It's airy and light, and everything is set up to create the perfect Instagram shot. The kitchen is open in the back, and everything screams Millennial Eye Candy. Needless to say, we loved the vibe.

Three Digit Hospitality:
The first time around, we thought the service was just okay, but this time the service was excellent. We asked our server what someone was eating to our left, and she went on a 10 minute excursion to figure out exactly what it was. The chefs came out to explain the dishes, a thread carried over from the Noma mothership.

Frankie's Notes:
Always give something a second try, because everyone is entitled to an off night; What's up with all of these places being named after numbers? I thought restaurants were a safe place where we didn't have to do math; I wish every restaurant was next to a harbor that was clean enough to swim in; Flowers are good to give to ladies, but use modestly in fine-dining dishes; If everyone could eat sourdough every day, I think the world would be free of crime and skinny people.

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

Sanchez: Rosario Sanchez Brings Mexican Food to Copenhagen

Background:
Sanchez is the first sit-down restaurant for former Noma pastry chef Rosario Sanchez, who left Noma in 2015 to open up Hija de Sanchez, a taco stand in Copenhagen which now has two locations. Her goal is to introduce Copenhagen, and the rest of Europe, to the flavors of Mexican cooking. She imports corn directly from Mexico and handmakes all of the tortillas daily. If you go to their taco stands on a regular basis, as we did (some might say we went too often), you might see a yellow corn tortilla one day, and a blue corn tortilla the next, all depending upon the supply of the corn they can get on a particular day. Sanchez is also committed to using local Danish ingredients to complement the Mexican flavors, as spiciness is a flavor profile that Danes are often unaccustomed to. 

The restaurant opened in December 2017 to rave reviews and won "The Best New Restaurant" by Berlingske, the largest Danish newspaper. Rene Redzepi, head chef at Noma, recommends it as the best non-Michelin star restaurant in Copenhagen.

Eat This:
Sanchez offers an a la carte menu is addition to a five course tasting menu. We opted for the tasting, as this was our only visit to the restaurant on this trip. Many other tables were ordering a la carte, and all of the dishes looked delicious; however, with the tasting menu, you get a wide variety of items, none of which can be ordered off the a la carte menu.

Chips & Salsa

Every table is brought homemade chips and salsa. The salsas were delicious, spicy but not overly spicy. We ate these in about 10 seconds and then sheepishly looked around for more. Spoiler: there was never any more.

Oysters

A Mexican twist on oysters, which were marinated in habanero peppers and local favorite sea buckthorn. This was a refreshing first bite with a nice, spicy kick at the end.

Agua Chile

This was the outstanding dish of the night. The agua chile contained raw brill, fresh local fruit, and a spicy strawberry sauce that was out of this world. The dish was on the exact edge of being too spicy, something that if it had even a little more spice would have been inedible for most people. I love when a chef takes a risk and pulls it off, and that's exactly what this dish achieved. The spiciness and acidity of the ceviche mixed perfectly with the freshness and sweetness of the fruit. Incredible.

Enfrijolada

This enfrijolada was filled with requeson cheese and topped with watercress, kale, and arbol chile oil. I am not a bean person in any way, in fact, I normally steer clear whenever possible. When in Rome (or Copenhagen), though, you eat beans, and this did not disappoint. There is a freshness and lightness to all of the dishes which you just don't get at a typical Mexican restaurant. If you were to have an enfrijolada in an American "Mexican" restaurant, you'd need a two hour nap immediately following inhalation. Not so with this baby. Another winner.

Tamale

Chef Sanchez said it was important to her to have a lot of vegetarian options on the menu. When she brought this out (!!!), she explained that the inside of a tamale is normally made with pork, but she decided to use mushrooms instead. We were instructed to add the tomato salsa and cheese to the tamale, and we happily obliged. Everything melted into the tamale like a warm, cheesy hug.

Taco

Our last course was a taco of beef on a crisp lettuce shell. The beef was cooked perfectly and provided a nice contrast to the crunch of the lettuce leaf.

Dessert:
Of course, we couldn't pass up dessert, especially since Chef Sanchez was the former head pastry chef at Noma. Sanchez is known her paletas, which are basically Mexican popsicles. The flavors rotate weekly, and spied on her Instagram that she was working on a licorice paleta. We love licorice (we are very Danish like that), so we couldn't have been more excited. Apparently, the chocolate maker where she sourced the chocolate for part of the paleta had gone on vacation, so this particular flavor was not on the menu; however, they had a few test ones in the back, which they were nice enough to give to us! We were seriously #blessed. 

Scarface Paleta

A licorice and cream paleta dipped in cacao cookie coating and cacao nibs. This was everything to us. Denmark is the land of licorice, and this paleta symbolizes the Nordic takeover of the food world--a Mexican treat with local, delicious Danish ingredients. This was, perhaps, the best dessert of our whole trip to Copenhagen.

Stawberries and Cream Paleta

Of course we couldn't just get one paleta. We also got the one listed on the menu, which contained strawberries, elderflower cream, candied elderflower, and habanero syrup. This was good, but not as good as the scarface: SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND. Ahem.

Churro Sandwich

This open-face churro sandwich is made with a mezcal-vanilla frozen parfait, bitter cream, and orange zest. Sometimes you just want a really good, simple dessert, and that's exactly what this was. I could have had ten of these, but, of course, we had paletas to eat.

Drink:
Sanchez has a variety of mezcal, agues frescas, and speciality cocktails. We each had a few cocktails, and Yvonne tried a mezcal flight. 

Mezcal flight

We are big fans of mezcal, and Sanchez has some of the best. It was cool to see the different preparation techniques that give off different flavor profiles. See also: a good way to get drunk quickly.

Pikachu Cocktail - Sea Buckthorn, lemon, vodka, thyme

Hibiscus Tea - from the tap

Atmosphere:
Sanchez has a relaxed, hip vibe. There are little remnants of Mexico everywhere, with skulls strategically placed throughout the restaurant to reminder you what type of food you were eating. The bar dominates the interior, with the mezcal bottles drawing your attention. All the servers are wearing t-shirts and make you feel at home right away. 

Mexi-Danish Hospitality:
The servers were attentive and excellent. We actually recognized one of our servers who used to work at Geranium, which made us feel special really deep inside. Chef Sanchez herself was working almost all positions, from hostess to server. She brought out at least one dish to each table, which we thought was really nice and something you don't see a lot from a celebrity chef. Also, hooking us up with the off-menu scarface paleta really made our night.

Frankie's Notes:
A paleta a day keeps the doctor away; Mexican food is too spicy for pugs, so they'll stick with traditional Danish Smørrebrød thankyouverymuch; when Rene Redzepi tells you to go to a place, you go; Chef Sanchez should come to Charlotte and open up a real Mexican food restaurant here, because we need a good one; Pork butt is my favorite type of butt.

RATING: 5 out of 5

 

Osteria Francescana: A Review of Massimo Bottura's #1 Restaurant in the World

Background:
If you don't know Massimo Bottura, or his restaurant Osteria Francescana (OF to Scallionpancake), then you probably either just woke up from a coma and asked who won the 1986 Super Bowl, or you aren't a foodie. If you aren't a foodie, you aren't going to understand why anyone would pay €270 to eat lunch in Modena, Italy, and we get that. If you get super drunk at an Olive Garden and pretend you were at OF with us, that will cost you a lot less. 

We've had our eye on OF for a few years now. I actually visited Modena last year with my friends Vishnu and Ravi, but in order to save my marriage I decided to steer us to Bottura's sister restaurant, the less fancy Franceschetta 58. We all loved it, and you can read about that experience here. In April, I decided I needed to take Yvonne to Italy, because Italy has a special place in my heart that I felt she needed to understand. While in college I studied abroad in Florence and fell in love with the country, its culture, and, most importantly, its food. If we were going to Italy, then we needed to go to its best restaurant, and that, to most, is Osteria Francescana. 

Like any of the top restaurants in the world, it takes significant planning to score a reservation unless you are crowned prince of of an Arab country or you have a TV show (see our Noma post to see what we what to do to get in there!). OF releases reservations a month at a time, three months in advance of month of service, and they go fast--as in, "don't bother if it's five minutes after they have been released" fast. I had to wake up at 4:00am Eastern time to get in an epic Battle of the Anghiari style fight with Italian computer servers on our couch, which, ultimately, I won. I ran back upstairs and woke up Yvonne to tell her that we were going to Modena. She was happy deep inside, but outwardly she expressed that the news could have waited until dawn.

Since we made the reservation, OF was yet again voted #1 restaurant in the world for 2018, up from #2 in 2017. The restaurant has been ranked in the top 10 since 2010 and was #1 in 2016. It has three Michelin Stars, and pretty much every other award a chef or restaurant could achieve. Bottura was the first chef featured on Netflix's Chef's Table, has been on Ugly Delicious, Master of None, Somebody Feed Phil, and a whole slew of other shows. Bottura is arguably the world's most famous chef at a time when there are a lot of celebrity chefs. 

Eat This:
Unlike most top restaurants in the world, OF gives you a few options in what you eat. You can do a la carte, a 10 course tasting menu (Festina Lente), or a 12 course tasting menu which includes the Bottura's greatest hits and the newest additions from the kitchen (Tutto). We chose the 12 course tasting menu, which i'm sure 98% of all guests choose because OF isn't a type of restaurant you go back to that often. 

Bread

The first thing they brought out was traditional Italian bread, which had no seasoning added at all. A very bland start to the meal that we were disappointed in. We have since learned (thanks to our reader & pod listener Andrea--hey, Andrea!) that Italian bread was once baked without salt due to a 16th century Pope who put an extremely high tax on salt, which meant that hardly anyone was able to use salt in their cooking for a time. Now, baking bread without salt is a tradition and the preferred style for many Italians.

Fish & Chips

A delicious bite and play on fish and chips. A very crispy cracker with a small fish inside made for a great first bite. The dollop on top was carpione (fish) ice cream with fresh herbs.

Small bites

A few small bites that we couldn't understand exactly what we were because the servers talked to us so fast we couldn't figure it out. They were all good, but nothing really to write home about.

bread sticks

They brought these out as if to say, okay we gave you the old traditional shitty bread so now we're going to give you something good. These breadsticks were excellent, made with olive oil and parmesan. Crunchy and flavorful.

insalata di mare

The first real dish was OF play on a traditional seafood salad. This is an evolution of Bottura's famous dish "Caesar in Bloom," and contains 20 different elements of the sea. The lettuce was crispy with many several types of seafood hidden in between, as if they were hiding from us in coral. The crispy chips added a nice texture to this course.

Burnt

This striking dish was a cuttlefish cracker that you dip in a squid ink sauce. This dish was meant to represent sometimes the best parts of food, the burnt edges, ends, and other dodgy parts of food. Was it cheesy to have "burnt" written on the cracker? We think so. Also, not a lot of burnt umami flavor, and rather messy, to boot. This one was a borderline miss for us.

mediterranean sole

The sole is cooked in parchment paper and then finished with a sea water paper to give you the fragrance and taste of the sea as you eat the sole. It also visually represents the parchment that the fish was cooked in. The sole was perfectly cooked and was a winner for me, but Yvonne thought it was a so-so dish.

summer in modena, Autumn in New York

This dish is named after Billie Holiday's classic song. The dish showcases the fresh ingredients from the local Modena market. This summer the focus was tomato, and the team made basically the best tomato soup you've ever tasted.

Five ages of Parmigiano Reggiano

in different textures and temperatures

This is the dish everyone comes for, and it doesn't disappoint. This dish only contains parmesan and time, and truly brings out the best flavors parmesan has to offer. Imagine the best tasting strong cheese, but without that bitter taste you can sometimes get. One of the best dishes we've ever eaten.

In the countryside: snails, hare and aromatic herbs

This was our only "pasta" dish of the night, which included hare ravioli and snails in a forest of greens. We both loved this one for the earthiness and tenderness of the dish, as well as the delicious green sauce.

Fallow deer

The steak of deer is covered in a blueberry sauce added a nice sour/sweetness to the salty deer. The Swiss chard with peach slices inside was made to look like a tree, and added a nice crunch to the dish. There was even a dollop of mango sauce, because who doesn't love mango? This dish was an A+ winner.

Summer tart

The freshest bite of the night. As we're finishing up the deer this tart is brought out with summer fruits from the market. What a refreshing bite to compliment the deer!

wagyu not wagyu

This was the true miss of the night for me. This was pork belly that was made to look like wagyu, which, when I ate it, just made me wish I was eating actual wagyu. This legitimately did not taste good.

Pepper and strawberry

This was a beautiful bridge from the savory to sweet courses. The pepper provided a nice balance with the sweet strawberry.

Opps! i dropped the lemon tart

The other classic of OF. The story goes that this dish was conceived when a chef actually dropped a tart on the floor during service. Yvonne and I have had a large debate on whether this dish is worth staying on the menu, other than for nostalgia. I say yes, because it's the best lemon tart I've eaten, and I don't normally like lemon desserts.

Baba

As we're finishing up the lemon tart, the servers bring us this play on a rum baba, which is a traditional French dessert. Man was this good. The cake is drenched in strawberry juice, making it moist and soft. The ricotta is covered with bell peppers and then shaved with burnt orange on top. This was our favorite dessert.

Croccantino of Foie Gras

covered with Noto almonds and Piedmont hazelnuts with Villa Manodori Traditional Balsamic Vinegar

This is another famous OF dish, with the foie gras lollipop covered in Sicilian almonds and dolloped in 35 year old balsamic vinegar. Foie gras is admittedly not my favorite, but I get why people like it, and the little bite did have an excellent crunch with the foie gras aftertaste.

Camouflague

Bottura seems to be obsessed with camouflage. He loves to have something hiding in plain site. This appeared like a chocolate, but was much more complex. The interior is made with civet, which is reduced hare's bones and blood. We enjoyed this inventive bite.

Drink:
OF has a wine pairing, but we didn't do that because who can afford a wine pairing? I decided to get a variety of homemade soft drinks, which were excellent. Our favorite was an orange & coffee soda made with actual coffee beans. It was so crisp, refreshing, and energizing. One of the best homemade sodas we have ever had.

Atmosphere:
The interior, at least the room we sat in, was modern, yet forgettable. It was lined with drawings of birds and had no windows. Compared to other top restaurants we've been to, where there are open floor plans with views of the kitchen and the other guests, our table at Osteria Francescana felt isolated. We could only see the two other tables in our room and that was it. When you go to places like OF, you are desperate to see how the magic happens, what's going on around you, how the waiters interact with the chefs, etc. We didn't get any of this, and that felt dated. We felt cheated to only get the food versus more of a full experience that we are used to at similar restaurants. This is a recipe for an underwhelming experience. After all, we've all seen the Chef's Table, so we've all seen the fun that's going on back there. It's disappointing when that's hidden from you. 

The room is also extremely quiet, with Frank Sinatra whispering lyrics to you from the ceiling. Bottura is such a fun, brilliant personality, it's strange his restaurant does not exude the same enthusiasm. We hypothesized the restaurant could be set up in small rooms because the building cannot be structurally opened up, or that Bottura wants there to be a striking contrast from his modern, exciting food to the traditional, white tableclothed dining room. No matter what the reason, the atmosphere was disappointing to us. In fact, of all the best restaurants in the world we've been to, this one was probably the least inviting.

Modenese Hospitality:
The service was stuffy yet exceptional. Whenever we needed anything we were always attended to quickly. Our main problem with the service was that the servers explained the dishes so fast that we couldn't pick up on a lot of the details. Thank god for the internet to help us out on that. The highlight of the meal was when Bottura himself came and spoke to each table. He could not have been nicer, and spent at least two minutes at each table asking about where we were from. I feel we had a real bonding moment over how Sean Brock from Husk, smoked up Modena with his BBQ a few months ago. He also took pictures with every table. No other chef has ever been this nice and courteous to the entire restaurant, and that was truly special.

Frankie's Notes:
Where are all the pugs in Europe?; Where is Jason's hand going in this Massimo Bottura picture?; Millennials like open concept spaces, please don't trap us in a small room with actual grown ups; That trash bag under the pigeon sculpture is an art piece, not an actual trash bag. Sorry Yvonne; Non-alcoholic pairings > wine pairings. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 with 2 Michigan Pugs
Maybe it was that we had just been to Noma a week prior, or that we were there on a disappointing menu day, but, to us, OF didn't live up to the hype. This is very nit-picky, because Osteria Francescana is still an amazing restaurant worth making a trip to, but when you are ranked as the best restaurant in the world we expected something incredibly, unbelievably amazing. We did get "great," but compared to our expectations this was a disappointment.