Buon Appetito!! Nonna Tata

Nonna Tata

1400 W Magnolia Ave

Fort Worth, TX 76104

817-332-0250

(you can click on any picture for a larger version)

We recently stumbled on Nonna Tata via www.Guidelive.com which has it as one of the top 100 restaurants in DFW area. Originally the biggest draw was the restaurant is BYOB and with a wine collection like ours, we are always looking for some good food to go with. On our first visit there, we learned that Donatella would do private dinners on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Knowing we have a lot of friends who enjoy good food and wine, but have complicated weekends, we settled on a Monday night.

We left the dinner that first night, blown away. Everyone was friendly, the staff was amazing, the food was good and the wine was free!!

When setting up the menu, Donatella gave me one choice between Salmon or Pork... I chose pork. Other than that the menu was set. We gathered 17 friends and a couple cases of wine, stemware and headed down. Bill, Dave, Keith and I got there and started getting the stemware on the table and opening wines.

As we gathered, we quickly realized that 17 is probably the max that would comfortably fit. The standard for the group dinners are they are served family style to the table. Any leftovers are gathered on the counter and guests are encouraged to take some home at the end of the night.

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Starting – antipasti which included

• Homemade bread sticks wrapped with mortadella

• Crisp polenta with a creamy center topped with melted blue cheese and a toasted walnut half
• Cured meats and Italian salami
• Crispy fried olives with ground meat stuffing
• Aged ricotta drizzled with lavender honey
• Broccoli and parmesan tart
• 3 crostinis –

• Smoked and fresh salmon
• Tuna with pesto
• White beans

Wow, what a spread. 6 or so boards were scattered down the table. We nibbled as we found our seats around the long table. It was amazing… each item had a great distinct flavor. While Donatella was explaining thee collection of delights… everyone got to experience the dreamy lyrical accent that makes me dream of the Mother Country…

(What was Michaelle thinking???) hehehe! Cryssie said, “I would be happy if she talked for hours….”

Next was the pasta course – two large platters of each pasta...

Spaghetti with house made pesto and toasted pine nuts

Penne all’Arrabiata -a spicy chunky tomato sauce

with fresh parsley

The pastas were cooked to the precisely proper doneness, not over sauced and incredible.

Next was the salad course –

A mountain of fresh greens with red onion, tomatoes, carrots and corn drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette.

With the main courses – yes two of them…. was the best focaccia. The focaccia was perfectly seasoned, with a hit of sea salt, light rosemary

and incredibly flavorful olive oil. (it is still good the next day for lunch~!!)

The main courses were

Petti di Pollo alla Milanese (thin pan-fried chicken) with roasted dill carrots

Loin of Pork with rosemary and a side of truffled potatoes

Again, there was more food than we could have consumed, but everything again was spectacular!!! The pork was moist and tender and just the right amount of rosemary. The potatoes were perfectly cooked with just enough truffle essence to flavor but not overpower the dish.

The chicken was pounded thin and crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. The carrots’ sweetness had concentrated during roasting. Wow… how nice.

Dessert - We knew what we were in for because Bill and I had these desserts on our first visit.

Apple and pear cake – this cake is more like a cross between a custard and light cake with a crumb bottom with delicate slices of apple and pear. On our first visit to Nonna Tata, I knew I wanted dessert, but Bill rarely has any. I was talking to the next table over about a red wine from Mendoza when Cindy brought the apple and pear cake out. By the time I turned back from my conversation with the other table, almost half of the dessert was gone. I was a little upset… but I knew immediately it must be great based on Bill’s reaction. And it was!

The other dessert was a crisp Panini of nutella topped with powdered sugar. We had this on our first visit because we were sharing some of our wine with another table and their offering back to us were small bites of this dessert. WOW!!

So when I talked to Donatella and she recommended these 2, I had nothing to say but GREAT!

Another addition to the plate was a generous quenelle of incredibly rich dark chocolate mousse. It was like diving into a total chocolate experience …. Not too sweet, creamy and dark. Amazing.

Just when we thought it was over, a granita of sage cello (think lemoncello with sage instead of lemon). It was a big burst of sage and slightly sweet slushy… I am not sure if was that I had too much wine already, but it was a little sagey for me… but wow what a finish.

The star of the evening…. Dave!! Dave had contributed the majority of the wine and found a half dozen matches that blew us, Donatella and Cindy away.

Thoughts on the night were:

This is way better than restaurant week options and it is private.

We need to do this on a quarterly (if not monthly basis)

We heard it was going to be good, but had no idea it was THIS GOOD!

Thanks to everyone who made the night special!!

Dave, Keith, Kevin, Dean, Jake, Bill, LB, Cryssie, Natalie, Kaki, Judy, Joye, Rebecca, Jeanne, Michaelle, and Betsy