More places need Tableside Tiramisu

A group of us went to meet up with a former coworker who we hadn’t seen since pre-covid. We hung out a lot prior and even took a few trips together, so this was well overdue. We settled on brunch lunch at Piccola Cucina Uptown. I was peer pressured into ordering a cocktail and I’m a sucker for any cocktail with St. Germain in it, so the above is a Freschi Freschi. One of the special appetizers was a squid stuffed with cheese and zucchini. It sounded intriguing so we all agreed to share.

We were warned that it was a small squid, and I have to say, it was even smaller than I anticipated even after the warning. It was pretty good though, it was a very mild cheese and I couldn’t really taste any zucchini. While the entire menu looked great, there were a lot of heavy dishes and it felt too early for that - this means I need to return for dinner, obviously. So 3 of us decided on pasta, 2 of which had ravioli and we had one outlier who ordered the branzino. I went with the Papardelle ai funghi porcini.

They provided hefty portions given it was lunchtime, but everything was great. I tried some of the fish and that was tasty, and the pasta was all cooked al dente and there was enough to take home for another meal - always my favorite. The only thing that could have used a little more seasoning were the grilled veggies. But the highlight of the meal was dessert. We saw the cart around the restaurant while we were eating and when we discovered it was tableside tiramisu, there was no question if we were going for it. A very pleasant man was preparing it for us which made it even more enjoyable.

I was informed later that usually the ladyfingers are soaked overnight in espresso so the espresso content is not so high, but I had no complaints. There were 2 layers of each and the marscarpone cheese was so light, fluffy and creamy. I definitely felt wired the rest of the day and wasn’t sleepy at night, but it was worth it.