It has been a chilly and un-spring-like March, but at least we have UConn’s participation in the March Madness that is the NCAA Basketball Tournament to enjoy. And a great place to root for UConn is Geno’s Grille, which opened a year ago in the new Storrs Center.
That’s Geno as in Geno Auriemma, of course, the UConn women’s charming and vociferous basketball coach who is trying to win a ninth NCAA championship.
There’s a replica of last year’s championship trophy near the entrance,
not to mention jars of Geno’s sauce for sale.
I photographed the bar area with its nice flat-screen TVs
and one of the dining areas
late in the evening when there weren’t many customers, but here’s how the restaurant looked with more customers.
A closer look at this backlit screen reveals the autographs of some favorite Lady Huskies.
Our server brought us a basket of nice bread
and a white-bean-and-red-pepper spread in a pool of extra virgin olive oil.
She also toted a small blackboard with the evening’s specials
to supplement our menus.
We ordered some of Geno’s private label red wine to increase our dining enjoyment.
We shared tastes of three different soups, including a pasta e fagioli,
a spicy black bean,
and a Mediterranean chowder.
For salads, we had a wedge salad with bacon, Blue cheese and sun-dried tomato
as well as Geno signature salad, of which this is a split serving.
We shared a number of nice appetizers, including fried calamari,
Geno’s meatballs,
deep-fried artichoke hearts,
and Prince Edward Island mussels.
Pizzas and pastas are another good way to go at Geno’s Grille. You can just glimpse the pizza oven in back.
This is a wild mushroom, fingerling potato, ricotta, Mozzarella, garlic and extra virgin olive oil pizza,
these are housemade gnocchi in a luscious sauce,
and these are mafaldine noodles with dried figs, creamy Gorgonzola and port wine sauce.
Entrées provided a lot of fun as well. There was Spanish mackerel,
cedar plank salmon,
chicken, prosciutto and sage in a Pinot Grigio sauce,
and a Tuscan flank steak special.
For dessert, we had a nice tiramisù,
a pair of cannolis
and a panna cotta,
but the dessert everyone goes crazy over is the mountain of chocolate.
We needed coffee to wash everything down.
My friend, who always has season tickets to the UConn women, had his picture taken with the trophy.
Geno’s Grille, 9 Dog Lane, Storrs, 860-487-9032, www.genosgrille.com