August 5, 2025
Frasca did a 21st Anniversary dinner, but it was a bit different. This time the menu was a “Greatest Hits” menu. The most popular dishes of their 21 years!
The menu! As you can see from the menu, this is going to be a big page, the bottom is a long way down the Ol’ scroll bar. Where there are two wines (italicized lines are the wines) for a course, we had the bottom, premium entry.
The first course Stuzzichini means Appetizer, from the word stuzzicare, “To Whet”
Martin’s cosmopolitan. Hmmm… This time the ice is completely filtered out, unlike the 20th Anniversary dinner one. Martin’s not sure which one he prefers… It’s still very fruit forward and just the right strength.
The Frico Caldo topped with small dots of the parsley vinaigrette is at the top and the “Slim Jim” is at the bottom. This is prosciutto di san daniele wrapped around thin bread sticks. At the top right is the dipping sauce for the Slim Jims. It is crème fraiche, finely julienned apple and horseradish.
Martin says that the horse radish is a bit too forward, Bill says, “That’s impossible!” This is an amazing way to show off the prosciutto.
The Frico Caldo is never quite the same, tonight’s was really crispy.
The first wine is Doro Princic’s Malvasia Blue Label Collio. Our server described this as delicious herbal notes, a bit more structured than some.
From the producers web site:
Fragrance: Broad, aromatic bouquet, reminiscent of apricot and peach; slight hint of rose
Flavor: Fragrant, with a touch of apple on the finish
That’s a perfect description of this one.
2nd Course, the Carpaccio di Tomato e Capasante, or crudo scallops with toohey tomato jus, scallops, cider, bonamini olive oil from Haiti and pink celery.
Martin thought this dish stole the whole show. He’s a crudo fanatic and this brought the scallops out like nothing he’d ever had before. No wonder this made the Greatest Hits menu! The celery was mild enough to support the dish instead of overwheming it. The acidity of the vinegar and the bright olive oil was perfect.
This was a knife, fork and spoon dish to get everything together in each bite!
Next is Vignai do Duline’s 2023 Malvasia, “Chioma Integral” from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. The vineyard has chalky soil, gets wind off of the sea and has a freshness that is wonderful. Martin says its like drinking fresh spring air. It was perfect with the scallops.
The vinter doesn’t have a website, but this is a neat write up about them: Vignai Da Duline: Soulful Wine.
Their in house sourdough starter is now 8 years old and the bread has a rich full flavor. This time they added a variety of seeds to it. The butter is hand churned in Normandy.
Lumache di Grano Saraceno. The blue is edible flowers, the white is finely grated parmesan. The nose of this dish, with the parmesan and pork ragu melding together was a knockout. The Pallisades peaches added a sweetness and the firm but mild buckwheat pasta all combined together to make a surprisingly big dish.
Damijan Podversic 2017 “Nekaj,” Collio Goriziano. This is a wine made from grapes that were 90% infected with “Noble Rot”, more formally Botrytis cenera fungus. This produced a very sweet, incredibly intense wine! One of the aromas in a Noble Rot wine comes from a compound phenylacetaldehyde which is also commonly found in buckwheat, it was a perfect match.
Martin says the nose is intense grapes, and it is very fruity.
Here’s the normal size glass used with the very first wine. The shot at the top, Martin’s Cosmo, has part of this wine glass in the background and more of the San Pellegrino 1 liter bottle is shown there.
To properly capture the big nose of this wine, this giant glass was used. Compare it to Martin’s hand and the San Pellegrino bottle.
Bill’s Manzo Brasato course, he went with the Colorado beef, which was very good.
La Castellada 2015 "Rosso della Castellada," Oslavia, Collio Goriziano is a big red wine, mostly Merlot from old vines.
Martin went with the A5 Wagyu beef and it was out of this world!
The accutrements were the same, the corn polenta had some whole corn kernels and Martin got one and it was a blast of sweet. They found some amazing corn!
Dessert was Parmigiano Reggiano flan, with Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP, and apricots. The parmesan was actually on top, its the brown crisp. The traditional balsamic vinegar and apricot were perfect compliments to the flan. Bill wished there was more apricot!
The dessert liquor was Amaro Nonino Riserva. From the vintners page:
Quintessentia® of herbs, spices, fruit, berries and roots, enriched with aged ÙE® Nonino Grape Distillate, aged more than 24 months in oak barriques and small casks.
This was a very potent, highly seasoned liquor that went well with dessert.