It is not too often that one can go out for dinner and be entertained by the staff. We had dinner at DePalma’s one time, where the waiter broke off into an aria between his customary duties. Talk about an unexpected culinary delight, of course if the waiter could not sing, it could have been disastrous. My Bride loves the opera and I can take it or leave it, so she was elated.
DePalma’s is more or less a neighborhood restaurant that features quality Italian meals. They pride themselves on homemade pasta, which is how they advertise their forte. I believe in going with the flow, why order something that may be incongruous with the rest of a restaurant’s menu. So we had a couple of fine pasta dinners, and as I mentioned earlier, we were regaled with impromptu arias.
We had a bottle of Valpolicella that evening. Valpolicella is grown near Verona, and is named after the grape varietal. It is one of the more popular wines of Italy and is known for it’s dry after taste, which works well with most pasta dishes. It is not as polished as an Amarone de Valpolicella, because of the difference in the production of the wine, but the basic Valpolicella wine is considered best to be drunk young. As a caveat, I have had some older Valpolicella wines that aged quite well, without any problems or diminished taste.
That reminds me of an Italian restaurant in Duesseldorf, Germany. We dined there only once, but it was marvelous. The food was great, and around 11:30pm, they closed the doors, turned on the music and the waiters were singing…initially opera, then on to more modern stuff. The owner asked all the ladies at the table to dance with him, and they naturally obliged. It was a feast!
Oliver,
This restaurant was not that elaborate, it was more impromptu, but your evening sounds like it was fun, unless maybe they only sang Wagner.
– John
OMG, just one aria of Wagner’s would kill me…not a fan at all…
Valpolicella sounds really good 🙂 Reminds me that its time to drink one again. Love them.
Actually I hardly ever say no to a wine, and I feel that I must rediscover some wines that I may have been too hasty with, in my youth.
Always something new to discover.
– John