handsome and i went out on a "fancy date night" during my may visit to denver where we went to dinner, went to a bar that we wanted to explore and saw our second movie ever (water for elephants, love!). we decided to look up italian places since we had never gone out for italian food together. handsome came across carmine's on penn and it looked wonderful so we decided to give it a try. well, the reviews were not wrong. it was delicious! it was different than most restaurants for many reasons. the first reason being that there is not a menu you get to hold. there is a large chalk board menu on one side of the room that has the names of every dish, but without descriptions. this is where your waiter becomes very handy. ours was very helpful! your waiter is able to explain the dishes to you and is also able to pick out a few options you may like based on the type of food you are craving at the time, or the kinds of foods you typically like. we listened to our waiter's opinions and ended up loving what we ordered! another difference is that carmine's serves everything family style. this means that whatever you end up ordering comes to your table in massive amounts. and i mean massive! despite this, we still wanted to try multiple items on the menu and decided to try an appetizer as well as an entree. we probably did not need to eat the appetizer, but it was sure delicious! (you should also keep in mind that the food is served family style when looking at the prices. yes, the prices are expensive, but well worth the amount and quality of food you are getting)
we immediately knew we wanted to try the manicotti after discussing appetizer options with our waiter and it was definitely the right choice! my favorite part about it was how it was wrapped in a thin crepe instead of a noodle. this made it a much lighter dish and allowed the flavors of the cheese and the sauce to stand out.
our waiter warned us about how large our entree plate would be by letting us know that it consists of an entire pound of pasta without taking into consideration everything else that is added to the dish. and let us know that there would be no way we could finish the entire plate even though we were sharing. regardless, i was still surprised about just how huge the size of the entree was when it came out! we ordered the carbonara which is one of their pasta entrees. when it came out, the smell was amazing and i could not wait to eat it! i was not disappointed because it was very delicious! neither handsome nor i have any kind of excitement towards peas, but they mixed in the pasta nicely. however, i still did not eat them if they got separated. oh the child in me! but i must say, when we ate the leftovers for multiple meals over the following few days, the peas tasted better and better! i am not sure if it was because they absorbed some of the sauce or what it was. regardless, i enjoyed how they became more delicious with time. and yes, there was so much leftover that we were able to get two more meals out of it for each of us! crazy! it also tasted a bit different than the carbonara pasta that i frequently ate in italy. the pancetta was cooked in this dish and the sauce was not as heavy as how i remember it being in italy.
the atmosphere was wonderful. we sat on the covered patio area since it was a nice day, but they also have a section inside. it had a laid back feel, but was also very nice for a fancy date. i could see myself being more relaxed another time we go or even dressed up a bit more than i was for our "fancy date".
we decided that we are going to try a dessert next time instead of an appetizer. we would also like to give ourselves more time to eat our meal. a time frame more like two hours would be ideal. carmine's is not a restaurant that tries to rush as many customers as possible in and out the door. they are not pushy and want you to enjoy your meal to its fullest. in fact, i think our waiter was surprised we left so quickly (we were there for almost an hour and a half). i am just going to say it, i loved this place!
love.
No comments:
Post a Comment