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Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Parsnip Gelato & Candied Bacon

Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Parsnip Gelato and Candied Bacon

Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Parsnip Gelato and Candied Bacon

Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Parsnip Gelato and Candied BaconAfter starting with a Crisp Goat Cheese and Cream of Corn Teaser with Basil Jello and Freeze Dried Crisp Kernels as the first course before diving into the second course of Sweet Sour and Salty Tuna & Smokey Brined Pork Tenderloin the third and final course would need to be rich, but small, to cleanse the Worcester Foodies’ palate.

To accomplish this at Ceres Bistro, Chef Bill Nemeroff, opted for another duet with Sour Cream Coffee Cake, often a suitable choice for breakfast, with a parsnip ice cream topped with a piece of candied bacon. Although the moist and spongy Sour Cream Coffee Cake seemed to be the center of the desert, it was merely there to accompany the parsnip ice cream. Parsnip flavored gel at, on it’s own, is a tough sell, but it’s refreshing flavor was subtle, cleansing and interacted perfectly with the cream and sugar of the gelato base. While one can do no wrong with bacon, the candied effect seemed to be a bit much for the ensemble. The crisp crusted candied brown sugar glaze was a bit too salty both the coffee cake, but would have fared perfectly with matched with the gelato alone.

To wash this course down, a brandy and port flip was created. Both port and brandy are recognized for being the perfect after-dinner drinks, but the craft elegance of  this cocktail lay with the way that the raw egg yolk interacted with the body of the port and sublet flavor of the brandy. The perfect end to three diverse courses from Ceres Bistro.

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Nuovo’s Linguine alla Carbonara

2010 Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon by J. Lohr

2010 Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon by J. LohrIt’s easy to forget that many of the small restaurants in Worcester are truly family run. You won’t forget this when you dine at Nuovo Restaurant on Shrewsbury Street. Husband and wife duo, Loreta and Aleksander Gjonca, go the extra mile in not only making sure that the restaurants patrons are taken care of, but they are actually interested on how they did and what can be improved. It can be easy for restaurants to lose sight on how to improve the experience, but when you look at one of the many family owned restaurants in the city, their families livelihood often depends on the restaurant’s success.

J. Lohr Cabernet

For Worcester Foodies XIV a group of 19 hungry Worcesterites poured into Nuovo Restaurant, which has only been open since June 2011, to see what Aleksander was going to dish out. Having recently participated in the Worcester’s Best Chef Competition, he was eager to show the recently updated menu and also offer a fixed 4-course option with the group. With a bottle of  2010 Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon by J. Lohr to start,  it was easy to relax in the comfortable and cozy atmosphere with contemporary details. The wine was a beautiful red-purple body with aromas of ripe fruits of black plum and hint of roasted vanilla and coconut. Mature and well structured, this wine certainly eased us into the atmosphere and meal to come.

Linquine alla Carbonara is a traditional Italian dish based on egg, cheese (in this case parmesan), and pancetta, mixed with a black pepper. Typically restaurants are bold when preparing any alla carbonara dish, focusing on the salty nature of pancetta (sometimes guanciale or local bacon is used highlight the salty, fat flavors) and an overwhelming cracked black pepper for spice. Nuovo Restaurant had opted to tone down the “salt and pepper” but added a garlic to subtly bring a different flavor to the palate. Foodies, serious or casual, could go either way on this dish. Those looking for that bold, overpowering flavors accustom to all a carbonara dishes will need to go heavy on the freshly cracked pepper and parmesan cheese topping, but those with a mild tolerance of spice will find this dish the perfect complement of texture, consistency and flavor, without being overcome by the intensity of spices.

All in all, Nuovo Restaurant, for only being open for a year has a lot going for it. The owners pay careful attention to the food, especially when trying to cater to a large group like ours, the atmosphere is intimate yet contemporary, and the staff is knowledgeable, efficient, and, above all, more than pleasant. When looking to break from your routine restaurant stops, Nuovo Restaurant on Shrewsbury Street should be on your short list.