Brooklyn Restaurant Week 2008: Lunetta

I was going to take photos of each of our dishes at Lunetta (my first time there, incidentally) ... and then I forgot. Call it a testament to the food or perhaps a compliment to our engaging dinner party company. I did, at least, snag a shot of the menu.

I started with the baby arugula salad with hazelnuts and parmesan, which was tossed with a very zingy dressing. The generous presence of crunchy hazelnuts and the tart parmesan made this a worthy order. However, after tasting a companion's ricotta bruschetta, and learning sous-chef Betsy Devine whips the ricotta up fresh, I wanted to give up my leafy greens.

Next up,  I went with the "famed" Lunetta meatballs. The presence of what I think were currants definitely took these tender beauties over the top, as did the simple garlic-tomato sauce I enthusiastically sopped up with our table's extra bread. The other pasta option was a nice complement, but if I had to choose, meatballs would win every time.

Finally, like most of our table, I opted for the fiore de latte panna cotta with pinenut brittle. While the panna cotta itself was good enough, the pinenut brittle was what pulled the raves, with everyone surprised at how much it tasted of pine nuts and how much pine nuts improve on the concept of nut brittle.

We also had a great bottle of red, the Torrette Les Crete 05 from Valle D'Aosta. $58 at Lunetta, retails for $28 if you want to try it for your own Italian feast at home.

Check out all my rec's for Brooklyn Restaurant Week 2008.