Sorrento

Posadas 1053, Recoleta - After going to a movie Friday night (see Sex in the City if you are looking to feel totally inferior about your sense of style and inability to walk around a city in stiletto heels...), we were in a quick fix to find a restaurant that was good, close, casual and new (to us). There is an area called Recova near the Four Seasons Hotel that has a cluster of restaurants that we've never tried. The closest Sushi Club location is there, so generally when we head that way we are drawn to have sushi, so we really haven't spent much time checking out the other places around. We weren't dressed for anything fancy, so we peeked at the menus and in the windows and decided on Sorrento. Sorrento is an Italian restaurant with white tablecloths and an extensive menu. It was pretty crowded, although there were still a few tables available (at 10:45pm) so we sat right down. The inside of the restaurant has a pleasant ambiance, but I have to note the hilarious and tacky Coca-Cola sign above their bar - it seemed out of character for the place.

Considering the vicinity to the Four Seasons, we requested an English menu and they were happy to comply (which was nice considering the attitude we sometimes get with this request). Their wine list was on par, nothing great, but everyone in the restaurant was drinking wine so it must have been sufficient. Here is a pet peeve of mine that occurred, again, at Sorrento - the serving staff handed us our menus and then didn't return for an eternity. No one asked for a drink order, came by to see if we were ready or anything of the sort - they wait until our menus have been closed on the corner of the table for at least 10 minutes before returning to take our laundry list of an order. This could easily be a culture difference, but a difference that I immensely dislike. Either way, after putting in our order, the server returned with a lame basket of bread (it was hard, dry and powdery) and a greenish spread that tasted like pure mayonnaise.

The meal turned around when we received our Bruchetta Mixto appetizer. The order came with six small toasts, two of each type of topping. The eggplant bruchetta was so good, I ate it before I remembered to take a picture. It was a beautifully marinated blend of eggplant, green and red peppers and my favorite of the three types. The bruchettas shown are fresh tomato and garlic (lots and lots of garlic) and some sort of cream cheese with a small pepper on top. The only criticism of this dish was that the toasts were drenched in olive oil, almost to the point that they fell apart when you picked them up. Don't be deterred though, this dish was delightful.



For dinner, Jon ordered the Lomo (beef filet) with peppercorn sauce and mini-potatoes and I had a homemade spaghetti dish with tomato sauce, capers and black olives. The steak was perfectly cooked, the potatoes were tender. Though it was delicious, we couldn't help but comment on how similar this dish was to the Lomo that Jon orders at most other restaurant meals. The fresh past in my meal was delicious, but the flavor makeup was not my favorite. The tomato sauce was on the sweet side, then mixed with the salty black olives and capers made for a bizarre combo. The portions were enormous though, I was able to take 3/4 of my meal home. I should note that the server was much more attentive and pleasant at this point in the meal, he truly seemed delighted to wrap my leftovers up once I asked him in Spanish. It was already pretty late, and we were in for another dinner out on Saturday (for my birthday! More to come on that...) so we skipped dessert.

Sorrento round-up: Good not great, but a nice alternative to our regular dinner spots. The prices were slightly cheaper than we would pay at Sottovoce, although the food was not quite the same caliber.