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Being in Atlantic City, home
of hotel resorts and casinos, we decided to try our luck at Luke Palladino at
Harrah’s Resort, and indulged in the tasting menu. There were no specifications other
than it entailed five courses and there must be at least two people at the
table participating, as at this Italian restaurant, the tasting meal was served
family style. We were warned that there was no shortage of food, but for us it
was a gamble, and we were hoping Lady Luck was on our side…
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Antipasti
Arancini
These aborrio rice balls
were crunchy on the outside, golden, crispy, crusty, and soft, hot and cheesy
on the inside. The texture of the Italian rice, most well known for its use in
risotto, vanished in the soft and rich sottocenere cheese, melting into
smoothness. The flavor was not overwhelmingly earthy from the truffle, but the
cheese assuaged and complemented nicely. The playful mix of textures along with
the soft essence of truffle oil resulted in comfort and delicious memories.
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Mushroom & Tallegio Crespelle
This was the restaurant’s
interpretation of the french delicacy of crepes. The thin and crispy pancake
was filled with sautéed mushrooms and salty tallegio cheese. Below the cut
crepe was a small pool of creamy melted cheese and a heavy drizzle of reduced
balsamic vinegar. The sauces added sweetness to the salty and meaty filling of
the appetizer. It was a savory play on crepes that bring to memory lemon,
butter and sugar on the beach in Cannes, or after the dive club in Bologna with
mascarpone and sweets.
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Cressini
The crunchy, glorified
breadsticks are made in house we were told, brushed with indulgent truffle
butter, rolled in grated parmesean and then wrapped in chewy prosciutto. The
cressini were stiff and difficult, almost too much at one time; a sensible pair
of prosciutto and parmesean ended up being to forceful especially with the
intense texture of the dry bread stick. There was nothing particularly
enchanting about one of the patrons’ favorites, just the loud crunch momentarily
silencing the white noise of the restaurant.
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Octopus salad
This tasting dish was
beautiful and lively with the riotous green colors of the fresh peas, pea
sprouts, and lightly dressed spring greens. The dark purple and creamy pink of
the perfectly cooked tender octopus pieces, contrasted with the vibrant greens,
emanating a spring palette. Even
the bright flavor of the fresh foliage matched the color scheme, but it was
dragged down by the drab tonnato, tuna sauce. Somehow the earthiness of the
greens did not line up with the heavy tuna almost hollandaise, and made the
octopus lost and obsolete.
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Pasta
Lobster ravioli
The four plump lobster
ravioli were served with a dark seafood red sauce, spotted with the same bright
green peas of the octopus salad. The paper-thin pasta was filled with a hearty
amount of chunky lobster, speaking volumes of freshness. Even the pasta on the
outside was not too overcooked, but just enough to hold its innards together.
Each pea was a green distraction, almost detracting from the flavorful sauce
and surprisingly succulent ravioli. The dish on a whole had nice kick, though
it was difficult to distinguish if the heat came from the sauce or the lobster
filling. These pouches were the things of cravings and long seafood desires.
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Gnocchi with Asparagus Cream Sauce
The pillow-like tiny potato
dumplings, were overcooked and near extinction; they were soggy, limp, and
lost. The sauce had no life or flavor, just a bland sea of creams sauce, dotted
with miniscule slices of crisp asparagus. There was hardly any variation of
flavor, just a kind of pulsing monotony of mush and congealed cold cream.
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Pesce
Cobia Special
The meaty white fish, cobia,
was paired with a sunchoke puree and a green diablo sauce, which lacked the
spice that its name implies. Plated beautifully, with a delicate array of muted
colors, from the crusty cobia, to the course dark green sauce, the pale
sunchoke, and the thin rounds of radish. All the elements combined were delicious,
textured with an amusingly varied flavor profile, indulging in the range of
sweet and salty. The fish was crisp and salty on the inside but white and
substantial, while the sunchoke puree was super sweet and alarmingly smooth,
and the diablo sauce, a tickle of pesto was bright and tangy, uniting each
part.
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Carne
Standing Rib
This giant meat dish
involved a chestnut basted standing rib enclosing a sausage stuffing, resting
on a shallow pool of creamy polenta and sautéed escarole. There were a ton of
different flavors; sweet pork meat, spicy fennel from the sausage, the cooling
polenta and the mildly bitter escarole, but in the end everything tasted the
same. It was nearly impossible to internalize each component without overload
and a mute. Each element on its own was sufficient, but the raucous combination
stretched the limit of comfort food and refinement.
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Dolci
Vanilla gelato and Valrhona chocolate cake
The two desserts seemed to
come as a pair, one balancing out the other; the cold creamy vanilla gelato evening
out the intensely moist and chocolaty cake. The gelato was nothing special,
cold and sweet, topped with a heavy shell of less than sweet whipped cream. The
cake however, was not the typical chocolate cake. It was small and in the shape
of the ever popular and hackneyed chocolate molten cake, but the inside was
dense, moist but almost crumbly dark chocolate cake. On the outside was a slick
layer of chocolate, that was like a cooled and set sauce, creating a texture
play and a fortified chocolate on chocolate experience. The tiny round of cake
was accompanied by a few Gran Marnier soaked blueberries and strawberries,
which intensified the decadence of the chocolate, while cutting the bitterness
with some tart and sweet accents.
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Alla fine…
They were right about it being a ton of food, but the
variety was truly stellar, ranging from the fried to the basted, cold and
sauced, to the sweet sweet and decadent. It was fun not knowing what was going
to come next, and listening to each description as the food came out, removing
the mystery. Themes transpired, like truffle and mushroom flavors in the first few antipasti and the bright green peas that appeared and reappeared. But the dishes spoke to the season, putting spring and summer favorites on our plates. Many of the tastes were delicious, predictable, but steady and
reliable, while others fell short of expectations, and lacked true quality. Despite it all, it was a nice experience at Luke Palladino, but I can't say we broke even.
RER
6.17.13
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