New Haven Restaurant Week, April 2010, 2A—Tre Scalini

Monday found me back on Wooster Street—New Haven’s Little Italy—for another Restaurant Week lunch.

My destination was Tre Scalini,

which since the late 1990s has been one of the Elm City’s most popular Italian restaurants. Those who have visited Tre Scalini know that its entrance isn’t actually on Wooster Street, but around the corner.

The rest usually reveal that they are novices by materializing at the dining room windows searching for the entrance.

Once inside, visitors are apt to be received by the owner himself.

one of New Haven’s more recognizable faces. Guests then proceed through this sunny space

and through the bar area,

where Tre Scalini’s many awards are listed,

and into the dining room. There, patrons have a choice of sitting on the upper

or lower level.

There’s even a private room for parties.

Our waitress, Vicki,

took great care of us from start to finish. Complimentary breads, whipped butter and cured olives were brought to our table.

Five appetizers were offered on Tre Scalini’s Restaurant Week menu. Although they sounded intriguing, we didn’t get to try a baby arugula salad in a Key lime vinaigrette with fresh fruit, imported Brie and honey-roasted walnuts; nor rolled stuffed eggplant, sopressata, fresh Mozzarella, house-roasted peppers, roasted garlic and mesclun greens in a Marsala demiglace; nor escargots, wild mushrooms, pignoli nuts and fresh herbs in a light pomodoro sauce. We chose, instead, sautéed sea scallops with assorted wild mushrooms in a béchamel cream sauce

as well as a Maryland crab cake finished with roasted red pepper and a limoncello cream sauce and accompanied by a mesclun salad.

There were also five entrées, including fusilli with onions and hot cherry pepper in a spicy pomodoro sauce; boneless chicken breast with shiitake mushroom and Fontina cheese in a sun-dried tomato cream sauce; and garlic-and-herb-marinated pork loin in a natural cranberry reduction. The two we tried, however, were a rosemary-grilled pork chop with sweet Italian sausage, hot cherry pepper, fried potato, garlic and extra virgin olive oil;

and fresh scrod with sliced Roma tomato, capers and black Italian olives in a nicely acidic red wine reduction.

There were just two desserts, so of course we tried both of them. Both were garnished with candied orange and both were delicious. One was essentially a caramel apple crisp topped with vanilla ice cream,

the other a nice cappuccino-flavored crème brûlée.

Throughout our meal, we enjoyed talking to our neighbors,

a couple who had come all of the way from Ridgefield (a town not lacking in good food) to see what the Elm City had to offer. And that’s what New Haven Restaurant Week is all about!

Tre Scalini, 100 Wooster Street, New Haven, 203-777-3373