Terrific Takeout: Ribalta Our Coverage Sponsored by Fresh Origins
The exquisite Sauteed Shrimp of Ribalta with Cannellini Beans in a White Wine Sauce
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Once upon a time there was a girl named Peachy that went to a trade show. Scratch that. Many, many trade shows. When she is at the show, Peachy marks the cards with stars or not if she decides to pick up your business card, and the number of stars varies. Once in a blue moon, she might write a note on the card.
The cards pile up. People are emailed. They jump on opportunities. She throws out the cards.
Once upon a time Peachy met Rosario Procino at a trade show (quite possibly at the Baldor one we are missing this year), and she wrote on his card "Owns Pizza." Peachy does not throw out cards with "Pizza" on it. So she rang him up and we went to Ribalta! You should know they do much more than pizza alone.
This is our initial visit. You should know it's harder for a new place to get a new review because now we have hundreds of places to update that we know we will love when we get there. We make new friends but keep the old; you know one is silver but the other is gold.
The angel named Bloomberg who perches invisibly on Peachy's shoulder reminded her to order a green salad, and this one was absolutely delicious! The color variation gets high marks as well as the arrangement, and of course the uber-trendy avocado. It's called the Avocado Salad.
Though the avocado is quite literally King of the Hill here, oranges (totally deveined which we appreciated-you don't see one bit of white!), red onions, spinach and cherry tomatoes come to this party of nutrition. It's a generous size and exactly what you would want.
And, they listened to picky Peachy and put the dressing on the side. She always puts the salad dressing on herself. Here this salad dressing is citrus and one of the best dressings we've had recently with lemon, salt and olive oil. We love how Ribalta executes simple well. Not everyone does.
We have a special place in our heart for shrimp, and you know why if you've seen Peachy's towering height. The sauteed shrimp appetizer was phenomenal and an example of the sophistication of Ribalta. Sauteed perfectly and done just right (not overdone like lesser places), the shrimps perched proudly on cannellini beans in a white wine sauce. Amazingly delicious!
Ribalta is quite famous for their Spaghetti Al Pomodoro, and the artisinal bronze-drawn spaghetti from Pastificio del Campi
with Piennolo cherry tomatoes from Casa Barone, grown on volcanic soil from Mount Vesuvius was indeed delicious, but we liked the shrimp and pizza even better. Vito insisted we try this...and we are glad we did.
Personally, Peachy does like Chicken Milanese and at Ribalta it's served with Arugola and Cherry Tomato salad. The crust is ideal and the chicken is pounded expertly to arrive at this impressive conclusion on your plate cooked just like you'd want it to be:
You ought to be crying your eyes out that this is not scratch and sniff...deciding which pizza is like deciding which Paul Mayer Attitudes you want to get at Bloomingdale's. You can't pick just one. Peachy dreams of truffles galore quite often and to see both Truffle Sauce and Shaved Black Truffle as topping choices dictates the pizza for her. In addition to these two crucially important truffle components, she also chose garlic and artichokes. This is the most delicious pizza we've had this spring!
Peachy probably just looks like the kind of person that drinks scotch...Ivan suggested this amazing Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky by Bruichladdich; it was amazing. We love the artisan choices that Ribalta makes across the board. And yes, Peachy's been to Scotland and has golfed at St. Andrews (if you run a golf course we want to hear from you!!!).
We didn't know how much we'd enjoy scotch with pizza until we tried it, and we would recommend it.
Ribalta also excels in their classic Margherita Rossa, which is simply superb. What makes their pizza different? The Ribalta pizza dough develops in 72 hours to optimize the leavening, and you can taste the quality in every bite. It's highly digestible.
Rosario we look forward to seeing you again!
Ribalta is Terrific Takeout!
