Dining Out with Friends
Written By Larry J. Mickartz
W
Cocktails From Full Bar
Polenta And Mushrooms
Bresaola Rughetta e Parmigiano
e've been inviting
friends to join us at
our local restaurants
for a couple of years now. We usually
take our Gilroy friends to Morgan
Hill restaurants and our Morgan Hill
friends to Gilroy restaurants. For this
issue, however, we decided to mix it
up a little, and take our good friends
Teri Nelson and Steven Smith to
Osteria Al Mare in Monterey. Osteria
Al Mare, although located in Monterey,
has a Morgan Hill connection—it is
an offshoot of Maurizio's in Morgan
Hill. Both are owned and operated by
chef, Maurizio Cutrignelli. Osteria Al
Mare roughly translates to Tavern or
Restaurant at the Ocean.
It was a beautiful clear Sunday
evening in Monterey—one of those
days that remind you that we live in
a spectacular "neck of the woods."
The restaurant, located on the second
floor of a building on the Coast Guard
Wharf in Monterey is light and airy—
and the food is terrific. We hoped that
we could say hello to Maurizio that
evening, but as luck would have it, he
was at his restaurant in Morgan Hill.
After settling in, we ordered cock-
tails. Osteria has a full bar. Teri and
Steve ordered off the specials cocktail
menu. Teri went for the Strawberry
Lemon Drop Top (Ketel One Citroen,
Local Strawberries, Lemon Simple
Syrup) while Steve opted for the
Woah Blackberry Bam-A-Lam (Patron
Silver, Blackberry Thyme Syrup,
Cointreau, Lime Juice). J.Chris tried a
classic Lemon Drop while I stayed with
my thirst-quenching Tall Gin & Tonic.
The Strawberry Lemon Drop and the
Blackberry Bam-A-Lam were fruity,
refreshing, and easy to drink. The
Lemon Drop and Gin & Tonic were
classic and just plain good!
Osteria has a unique appetizer
menu. We opted to share three of them!
Polenta (Parmesan polenta, sautéed
mushrooms, gorgonzola cream sauce),
Bresaola Rughetta e Parmigiano (Dried,
salted beef with rocket and Parmesan,
lemon olive oil) and Involtini di
Melanzane (Cheese stuffed eggplant,
tomato sauce, fresh mint, and melted
mozzarella). J. Chris characterized the
Polenta as "comfort food good." The
Bresaola was a great mix of flavors that
dazzled the pallet. As someone who
does not care for eggplant, I have to
admit that the Involtinie was very tasty.
The appetizers were filling, and on a
typical night out, we might have called
it quits right then, but for the sake of
this article, we troughed on. The ladies
ordered small cups of the classic Italian
Minestrone and the Zuppa Di Vongole
(Meaty clams, bacon, onions, potatoes,
Ravioli Zucca e Amaretti
Involtini de Melanzane
78
La Barbabietole
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
august/september 2019
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