Because my parents were in town last weekend, Nena and I were able to sneak out of the house, sans Jackson, and have dinner together for the first time in a while. It doesn’t happen much these days, so we try to take full advantage when it can happen.
After calling one of our favorite places, The Kitchen – A Bistro in St. James, only to find out that they aren’t open on Sunday evenings, we settled on a new-to-us place in Port Jefferson, Ruvo. We’ve had friends tell us good things, so we figured we’d give it a shot.
I won’t go so far as to say that I’m sorry we tried it, but I’m in no hurry to go back.
We’ve only been there once, obviously, so doing a full review isn’t fair, but I do have a few tips that I’d offer Ruvo:
- Learn how to cook Veal scalloppine. It is pounded thin and cooked quickly for a reason. It’s supposed to be tender. Not chewy and leathery.
- If you’re an Italian restaurant, you should serve pasta al dente and well-seasoned. Not mushy, without salt.
- While you’re at it, it’d be nice if you served that pasta in a bowl that looks nicer than the Correlle Ware cereal bowl I had in my dorm room freshman year.
- Give your hostess a raise. We saw her more than we did our server. I have a feeling that we’d still be waiting for our check if not for the hostess.
On the positive side of things:
- Nena loved her rigatoni with seared scallops and mushrooms
- Ruvo probably has the best Long Island wine list this side of the North Fork
- The bar is a great spot to have a drink before or after dinner.
- Seasonally focused menu items are inventive and bring more local flavor to the menu
Before I conclude this post, I have a question for all of my blogging and/or technology addicted friends out there:
Is it ever appropriate to have your laptop out on the dinner table, open and on, during dinner at a nice restaurant? There was a woman across the dining room from us who had hers out on the table and was actively working on it throughout our dinner. Her dining companion (who we assumed to be her mother) didn’t seem bothered by it, but the glow of the screen didn’t really work well with the dark ambiance of the dining room.
As an admitted laptop addict, I can’t imagine any situation where I’d do anything of the sort. Not even at a diner or chain restaurant. Ruvo is a nice, though not fine, restaurant. It just struck me as completely inappropriate.
Then again, maybe it bothered me so much exactly because I am an addict, and I thought it gave all of us a bad name.