Lo Scalco

We decided to check out the fare at Lo Scalco this past Saturday night.  In general, I’m not a big fan of restaurants on Saturday night because they tend to be so frenetic that the true colors of their food doesn’t stand out.  Lo Scalco proved that isn’t always the case. 

We arrived a bit late, around 9:15 for a 9pm reservation but they weren’t quite ready for us anyway.  There is a small bar to the right when you walk in and a large wall behind the hostesses table so you can’t peer directly into the restaurant when you walk in.  It makes the restaurant intimate and a nice surprise when you walk around the corner.  The big vaulted ceilings have white wood running along the ceiling as it was holding it up but no doubt it is purely architectural.  The colors are black and white, simple. 

We sat for awhile hoping to find someone to take our drink order.  My first impression was "yikes, this is going to be a disaster".  But, he finally showed up and took our drink order.  The restaurant appeared to be understaffed that night.  We finally got our drinks and decided to quickly put in our dinner order too.  The menu is broken up by the main ingredient such as shrimp, artichokes, lamb, etc.  There are 3 items per ingredient.  The first 2 are appetizers and the last being an entree portion.  We asked our waiter some questions about preparation but he did nothing to enhance our palette but reiterate what we just read on the menu.  I was still ambivalent. 

Our appetizers came out pretty quick.  The food was delicious!  I had the shrimp salad and vegetables.  Literally, that is what the appetizer was called.  Left a bit for the imagination.   Slices of yellow beets, red tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and layered small group of greens and roasted shrimp with a light vinaigrette.  Everyone else loved theirs too.  We were all pleasantly surprised. 

We ordered a bottle of wine and out came the dinner.  White fish, grilled, skin side up over a unseen layer of spinach covered with white asparagus and on top of the fish a large red shrimp.  On the side, roasted crispy salty halved potatoes.  Next to me someone had 3 large ravioli’s layered on top of each other, beautiful presentation. 

It was late at this point but we had to try something sweet.  There is always a large cheese menu if you prefer.  We had chocolate gelato with chocolate sauce and coffee gelato with a cappuccino sauce.  The ice cream is served on a square plate with 3 small cups of the same thing.  Very clever for sharing.  So good.

The chef owns the restaurant here.  I am still not sure how well run the place is but the food was truly delicious.  It would be nice if their wait staff could explain the delicacy of each plate because the menu doesn’t turn you on but the food certainly does when it arrives in front of you. 

I try new places out time and time again and invariably am disappointed and don’t return. Not with Lo Scalco.  I will definitely be back.  After all, the food was divine.  Simple, delicious, nouvelle Italian.  How could that be bad?