Cloak & Dinner: Carnevale di Venezia || 10/22/11

Our first private supper, booked exclusively by my parents for their friends who've all had yet the chance to try our cooking, even though we take over their house on a monthly basis and turn it into our own private kitchen studio.  Knowing that we were cooking for a group of massive wine fanatics, we decided to head to Italy for a little Carnevale experience...

A tavola non si invecchia!

Tonight, we travel to Carnevale di Venezia! Each year, forty days of pageantry light up the ancient canals and corridors of Venice, as masked revelers sing, dance, and feast their way to Martedì Grasso. A Venezia, you talk with your hands and cook con il cuore... (with your heart.) We've gathered tastes da tutto il paese to capture the intoxicating spirit of the Queen of the Adriatic, but in truth, the food is only one small part of the eternal essence di Carnivale. Unirsi a noi per gustare i sapori d'Italia, e, così facendo, diventano una vera famiglia. Mi scusi, I got carried away there for a moment. Park your Gondolas, don your bauta, and viva la vita! Tonight we celebrate il Carnevale, wishing it could last all year.

As always, here are a few housekeeping notes.  If you'd like to be added to the mailing list for future C&D dinners, please email rsvp@cloakanddinner.com. and remember you can also follow us on twitter @cloakanddinner.

Antipasto

compartmentalized caprese

deconstructed caprese salad with pesto olive oil in pipettes & sweet balsamic reduction

Zuppa

gazpacho of melon with prosciutto duo

a play on melon & prosciutto with both fried & fresh and a garnish of mint

Primo

smoked salmon lasagna

a fan favorite from the Rags to Riches dinner!

Il Contorno

a walk through the garden

edible mushroom dirt with an elderflower spiked salad garden

Secondo

array of scented sea salts with steak

taken from our A Day in the Life dinner we accented with baby potatoes, cauliflower & exotic sea salts including ghost pepper, garlic & hickory smoke

Fromaggio

goat + parmesan panna cotta

a goat cheese panna cotta topped with a parmesan tuile and "kalamata olive" grapes reduced in red wine

Dolce

not your traditional tiramisu

deconstructed. chocolate mousse with sponge cake, espresso mascarpone and bacon cocaine

And of course... onto the cocktails!

with a few non alcoholic drinkers in the midst, Isaac got to flex his creative muscles for some non-alcoholic libations

Eastern Standard Time (non-alcoholic)

cucumber/cranberry/lime/sugar/salt

Faux Kir (non-alcoholic)

raspberry/sparkling cider

Winter Warmer (non-alcoholic)

pear/cranberry/lemon/cinnamon

Clockwork Orange

gin/whiskey/orange/lime/miracle mile chocolate-chili bitters/nutmeg

Basil Gimlet

gin/basil/agave/lime

Honey Fig Redemtion

rye/honey/mint/lemon/fig/shiraz