Dinner at Passerotto
Well lookie here! Another Wednesday, another mid-week reflection on my recent bout of eating, drinking, and being extremely merry. I feel sunburnt and bloated with Gewurztraminer. But that means I must be doing something right.
This past week was filled with dinners, wine nights, concerts, rosè festivals (okay technically just one), a bridal shower, a trip to New York, and many empanadas. But of all the tens of thousands of calories I consumed, there really was just one place that took the cake across the board. That place was Passerotto, a new Korean/Italian restaurant in Andersonville. Helming the kitchen is chef Jennifer Kim, previously at Nico Osteria and Snaggletooth.
Korean and Italian, you say? Oh, I said it. Lil’ Kim’s goal here is to combine food from her heritage and infuse it with flavors that inspired her during her culinary studies in Italy. Let’s be clear... it works.
My dear Christopher accompanied me on a sibling-date with my brother and his boyfriend since Passerotto just opened up in their neck of the woods. I think Chris only audibly sighed once while I made everyone wait as I took ten pictures of our plates. Sorry, kids, but I still *hardly* know what I’m doing with this camera so this is going to take some practice.
Is that look in his eyes love? Or hate because he just wants to eat and I won't let him?
You know how you start looking like your significant other after you’ve been together for a long time....?
The menu was really streamlined. To the point that we ordered almost everything on it. Not a bad thing, just something to be mindful of if you’re a picky eater... definitely not a lot of choices for vegetarians either.
The menu is divided up into a few sections, starting with a selection of raw things, a la seafood and tartare.
Quick digression: remember when “raw” was our (midwest millennial youth) favorite synonym for “cool?” Like, my 7th grade AOL instant messenger conversations can be summarized as:
LittleFritoNF: wassup
AIMnamehere: nm u?
LittleFritoNF: just went rollerblading
AIMnamehere: that’s raw
LittleFritoNF: g2g, dinner
Really impressive how far we’ve come as a generation. Started from the bottom and now we’re here. At Passerotto. Ordering lamb tartare and bay scallops.
Lamb tartare was really, really, stupid good. It was served with puffy rice clouds that could be used as packing material or could be eaten as food. The choice is yours! I chose to eat mine.
Highly recommended. The next plate that came out, tender little bay scallops, got mixed reviews. Mainly, I thought they were delish but way overpriced, my brother liked them, and Chris didn’t like them at all. My main qualm was the fact that they were essentially a dollar a pop. And I mean literally, a pop, because they were the size of a pop rock. For that reason, these came in last on the power rankings.
Honestly this pic is garbage but I just needed to emphasize how ridiculous this portion size was.
Next up was the pelicana chicken, which, admittedly, is some of the best chicken I’ve had in a restaurant. To be fair, I almost never order restaurant chicken. Why would I order something I can make at home? Ah, Nora. You conceited brat. You can’t make chicken like this. Crispy, perfectly spicy, pickled cauliflower and carrots. Noms.
Our next dish, the kimchi paleon, was something our resident vegetarian could eat. It was like a crispy, savory pancake. It was SO good. We cleaned house in about 30 seconds flat. And then sat there licking our lips and glancing around wondering where the food just went.
Our next plate was almost like a pokè bowl, except completely different at the same time. Confused? You should be. Crisp rice, assorted raw fish, radishes and mint - all served in a little hot pot.
It was good, but forgetful. But she was a photogenic little bowl. That said, I would recommend skipping to what came next.
Lamb ragu over sticky rice paper rolls. Stahhhhhhp it. We were appalled by how much we loved this. And I think our server was appalled when we ordered a second round of it... as our dessert. The second time around was just as good, albeit they gave us less of the ragu. Maybe they just want to keep us coming back for more.
Well, it worked. The mix of unique food, relatively affordable bottles of wine (several options at a $42 price point), and our sweet server left me a fat, happy, slightly tipsy baby. I’ll be back.
The Forkling gives it: 8.6 forks out of 10.0
We are headed to Aba tonight, so more drool-worthiness coming your way soon. Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions for where I should take my fork next!
Aside from to my FACE. Because it’s got a one-way ticket there right now.