Ca’Dario

October is epicure.sb month, and while I didn’t have time to sample much of all the town had to offer, I did make the effort to return to Ca’Dario. It had been a while year since my last visit, for the same prix fixe lunch the restaurant had put together for 2010′s epicure.sb.

I dined with Matchoo, always an excellent companion. It was a Saturday afternoon, and I’d finished the morning marketing. The atmosphere was quiet and happy, with older couples and young families also sitting at tables. I even ran into an old friend who was likewise returning after sampling the prix fixe in the previous year.

The prix fixe is bread and olive oil, and choice of an appetizer, choice of a pasta, with a glass of Brander wine, and dessert of coffee and biscotti. It cost $25 for lunch, and $35 for dinner.

We started with the roasted figs, stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in prosciutto. It was the best I’d ever had, with the figs and cheese melted until warm and swelling, merged into one entity and wrapped up in charred smokey pig goodness. My friend at the other table said this was a favorite from last year and she was not disappointed with it this year. I agree.

We also got the warm octopus and potato salad, doing an encore from 2010′s lunch. It was as good as ever with thick generous pieces of octopus, a sensible meal in itself.

For our pastas, we both tried something new. I got the orecchiette in a walnut pesto sauce. Delicious! The pasta was perfectly soft yet sturdy and the sauce was wonderfully creamy and nutty. We some of this leftover and it made a fine dinner reheated, even if the emulsion of the sauce had separated a little.

Matchoo got the spaghettini with bottaga, or maybe I did? Doesn’t matter, we all shared. I first had bottaga and spaghettini at another restaurant in town and loved it, and had to have it again. The bottaga was nice shaved pieces, and the pasta al dente, even for its fine size. We loved it all. One item wasn’t mentioned in the menu, the copious amounts of garlic used in the dish. Wow. Seriously lots of garlic, I sopped some of it up with my bread, but there was still much leftover. Did not take home.

There is an option to order dessert, for additional cost, but we were fine with coffee and biscotti. With lots of cream and sugar.

Ca’Dario does it again, with a wonderful epicure.sb lunch. I hope to make it again in 2012.

Past words.

Ca’Dario
37 E Victoria Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
www.cadario.net

Epicure SB website: www.santabarbaraca.com/epicuresb