On a similar note, the roast chicken ($28) has a whiff of condescension to it, as though the kitchen assumes only timid people would order chicken in restaurants. Haven’t they read that chefs test each other by ordering roast chicken? This was a fine dish, but the breast was slightly overdone, the skin wasn’t crisp, the whipped potatoes with olive oil were pretty plain, the “Marsala reduction” was a gloopy gravy, and the side of baby spinach was rather basic. It’s okay to have a plain dish on the menu for those with bland palates, but it’s not okay to charge $28 and not do your best.
The wine list is about half Italian and very nicely selected, with lots of great glasses. My favorite was the 2003 Donna Laura Chianti Classico “Bramosia” ($9), a wall-of-fruit experience with enough structure to improve over the next few years. It completely outshone the 2004 Michele Chiarlo Barbera d’Asti ($10), a perennial favorite on the Lucca list, but presently too young and closed up. On the white side, don’t miss the 2004 St. Michael-Eppan pinot bianco ($10). The Alpine regions of Italy delivered this terrific wine, light but with a slightly floral nose. All the wines showed well with modest pours in oversize glasses.
Desserts at Sasso returned to the superb level of the appetizers. You must order the soufflé of the day in advance, and you may want to order two of them. Our day it was pistachio ($12), and while it wasn’t powerfully pistachio, it was a great soufflé: sweet and eggy, with some crème Anglaise for added richness.
Chocolate cake ($11) was flourless, of course, and fashionably underdone. But the dish was sent to another level by its pairing with blackberry ice cream, a rich gelato that evoked the idea of chocolate and then surprised with fruit flavor.
Zabaglione ($10) is whipped sweet custard on a plate of seasonal berries — great now, even better in the spring. And white-chocolate peanut-butter terrine ($11) sounds dreadful, but it turned out that it captured the richness of peanut butter without being overwhelmed by the peanut flavor. This slab has a texture halfway between mousse and fudge, and a flavor that’s neither chocolate nor peanut, but a compromise not far from hazelnut.
Service at Sasso was flawless — not easy in such a large space. Big spaces are dramatic, but they can be loud, drafty, airport-like disasters. Sasso’s design avoids most of those problems without overplaying the common conceit of eating outdoors in Italy. You get the lanterns, but not the false doorways or pergolas.
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Robert Nadeau: RobtNadeau@aol.com
