SOGNO…still a dream of a place
With all our required dining-around, we don’t get to revisit the
restaurants we really like as often as we’d really like to do
so. A few weeks ago, we realized with a start that despite all
the times we drive by - always wanting to go in - we’d only been
back to Sogno once or twice after we first reviewed it…and that
the ownership had since changed hands.
Would it be…could it be as wonderful as it was when it first
opened we wondered?
Let’s start at the start, and say again how much we like those
cheerily twinkling lights and that warm – and sometimes tightly
packed but always cozy interior. It always reminds us of the
kind of special, semi-secret spots in Italy, that only the
cognoscenti seem to know about.
And let’s add that we really didn’t expect the food to be as
good as it was back when they first opened: Face it; how many
restaurants can you think of that are as good as they were in
the opening few months? And that’s assuming the original owners,
chefs and staff are still in place and still full of their
original enthusiasm. Plus, when we wrote it up - at least three
years ago, we think – we said it was one of the best meals we’d
had all year…and that our appetizer (a spectacular tuna tartare)
was THE best appetizer we’d had all year.
OK, OK…enough with the suspense…How WAS the food? Absolutely
delicious, from start to finish: beautifully prepared,
imaginatively presented, with only the best and freshest of
ingredients in evidence, and with out-of-the ordinary
accompaniments, like house-made timbales of polenta, and farro
(the sturdy grain upon which the Imperial Roman Empire was
built), enriched with creamy parmesan cheese, for example.
For starters, our four diners divided two of that night’s
special appetizers – zucchini blossoms, stuffed with a rich
ricotta-based filling, then fried with the lightest, crackly
crust imaginable…and a truly wonderful medley of lightly sautéed
shellfish, with a farro cake to soak up the delicious juices of
tender clams, squid and mussels.
For the main course, Mrs. Hilton had chicken al mattone, a
free-range chicken beautifully grilled – ‘under a brick’ – with
sautéed spinach and some gnocci (not nearly as feather light as
our own, but more than tasty enough). Our daughter-in-law –
who’s almost always the wisest and healthiest-eater among us,
had one of the special fish dishes that night – Halibut, with a
lobster sauce, all of which literally melted in the mouth. Our
son had to try the pork osso bucco which also melted in the
mouth, exactly as promised. Jimi, always the dutiful reviewer,
decided he had to test the steak – partly because this is his
acid-test of overall ingredient-quality, and of overall cooking
capabilities – but partly because we’d brought two excellent red
wines along…
…which prompts this important tip...Always bring one or two (or
maybe three) fine bottles of wine when you come to Sogno: No
bargain-bin specials, please, if you want to do proper justice
to the food here. We’d brought along a well-aged and rather
pricey Brunello (worth ever penny) and a 1995 Bordeaux – a
Chateau Gloria, that we were hoping was still in prime shape,
which it was. Our waiter decanted both of them for us, which was
exactly what they needed, and boy were they good! And oh, yes,
the steak had a nice beefy, well-aged taste, came grilled
perfectly as ordered, and with a nice serving of equally
delicious mushrooms and some sautéed spinach instead of the
starch.
We also enjoyed a very pleasant surprise: While the chefs seem
to be the same ones as way back when – or at the least, to have
been very well-schooled in the original Sogno recipes and styles
– the staff is incredibly more welcoming than the original
group. (We actually got an emailed complaint about a ‘snooty
hostess’ when we first wrote them up…and, frankly, we had been a
bit under-whelmed ourselves, considering all the care that had
obviously been lavished on the food). A very nice touch at the
“new Sogno”, our headwaiter volunteered that he’d gladly let us
mix and match the side dishes to our own taste – something that
so often makes too-snooty servers get huffy when you ask.
All in all, we have to repeat what we said way back at Sogno’s
beginning: A dream of a place: One of the very best restaurants
in New Jersey. We have already marked our calendar for their
next wild-game night…and we’re eyeing up some of the primest-bottles
in our cellar, to make the most of the evening.
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