Monday, March 05, 2012

M. Comes to Town and Modo Mio Ensues

So back in the earliest of 2012, I was hanging out with M. and the gang (that's totally how they would describe themselves), celebrating the new year, editing like a fiend, stuffing my face with pork and other tasty treats, whetting my gullet with fine Italian wine and... Yeah, the usual. The point here being that I once again brought up the fact that I would not rest until M. had tried Modo Mio, and A. too for that matter. The two of them were staying east for a while after the holidays, as M. was going to do fancy theater lighting stuff in New York. It was then loosely decided that M. would come to Philly some time in February in order to realize the Modo Mio dream. And that she did about two weeks ago. She arrived by train and I made the fateful mistake of trying to drive west on Market at 6 PM to pick her up on a Friday (don't do that it will take you 20 minutes to cross the river). Blah blah blah. The real point is that we arrived to Modo Mio in one piece. M. went into the nearby wine/liquor store to pick up some bubbly...I strongly believe that any meal at Modo Mio should start with some kind of sparkling wine. And M. went big on that one, coming out with a bottle of Moet, which we quickly popped once we were seated. Behold, this, a tasty dish. Sweetbreads with a sort of nutmeg flan custard thing, asparagus, crispy porchetta and a sage leaf. And I think perhaps a touch of balsamic reduction? This was no joke. The eggy nutmeg base was of such a silken texture and such an unexpected taste, but (as always) complemented the the saltier and heartier tastes and textures rocking the higher limits of the dish.
M. tried the chicken liver pate (I don't know how to make the little accent) cannoli, which was rich as all get out but, as usual, this place/chef/kitchen has figured out the perfect way to keep that chicken liver-y taste but to soften it a bit or inform it a bit so there's so much more going on. Also? They gave us a taste of the special appetizer of the night: clams! Tasty, tasty clams.
For my pasta I believe I went with the veal and beef cheek ravioli. I think. The one problem with Modo Mio's ever changing menu is that I always forget to write what I had down, and their menu online is totally outdated. Whatever this may have ultimately been, its key characteristic was tasty treatness. M. had the special pasta...buccatini with a cream and pepper sauce. Reminiscent of an al fredo sauce, but a little different.
For my main course I went with the skate with calamari, asparagus and white beans. Or I think that's what it was. This wasn't my favorite entree of theirs ever, but I think that's more just a question of my taste, not their execution.
In addition to the champagne, we also drank a bottle of Chateau Caroline. And for dessert, I chose a profiterole-like option. I forget what M. had. Then we concluded our meal with orangecello and glee.
Afterwards we ended up meeting up with LW for darts in Center City, and though I had every intention of getting LW to take a photo of M. and me together, I totally spaced on that. You'll just have to trust that I went to dinner with M. and that we hung out until late into the night. Trust it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I wish you were here in Firenze to
eat. Good post.