It’s Saturday, it’s pretty warm out (above 40 degrees) and it’s 5pm. I had the bright idea of giving restaurant week one more go and thought hey, it’s early, I’m sure we could snag a table at Chianti at 5pm, right? Wrong. This was the start of my night at Chianti, one of the most well known restaurants in Saratoga Springs. As one of my must try picks for restaurant week, I wanted to end my week with a Saratoga staple. While we couldn’t get seated at 5pm or any time for that matter, instead my sister and I decided to sit at the bar for dinner since it was less crowded and I really wanted me some bruschetta. And so the story begins…
Did I mention that Chianti has happy hour specials, even on the weekends? That’s right, they do and you better believe I took advantage of that. As I sipped on my $5 house wine, I perused the restaurant week menu, trying to figure out what to order. Jumping right into things, I started off with the famous Chianti bruschetta, because honestly, who wouldn’t?
Tuscan italian bread topped with diced tomatoes, basil, garlic and extra virgin olive oil.
Ahhh the lighting and the presentation look so beautiful together, don’t they? Besides looking good, it tasted phenomenal. The bread was crispy enough to not allow the weight of the tomatoes to make it soggy and the balsamic reduction drizzled throughout made my taste buds dance. Full disclosure though, I totally could have eaten this and been done for the night. The portion was huge and hearty! Between the bread and the chunks of fresh tomatoes, I was pretty satisfied by the end of the first course.
Luckily, I didn’t stop there. For my entree I chose the mezzanine alla vodka, which is penne with fresh tarragon, prosciutto in a vodka pink sauce.
This has to be one of my favorite dishes that Chianti offers. The pasta is always al dente, the sauce is perfectly creamy and the prosciutto is light yet adds a meaty saltiness that in undeniably good. In this case, I think the prosciutto was tossed into the dish a little too soon and might have over cooked, because it was slightly rubbery and chewy, but it was overall still a good dinner.
Finally for dessert, I ordered the tiramisu. Generally, I would expect a tiramisu dessert to come out as a slice, however at Chianti’s it was presented in a little dish. Slightly misleading if you ask me, but I was also intrigued by the unique twist on it’s presentation.
Coming with all the same ingredients including lady fingers, espresso and mascarpone cheese, you could definitely get the familiar taste of a piece of tiramisu. I will say again, if you’re looking for what you’d normally expect when ordering tiramisu, this isn’t going to do it for you because it’s much lighter in flavor and consistency.
Ending my restaurant week with this meal left a good taste in my mouth, figuratively and literally. In fact, I can’t wait until next year for the $20.14 menu, but for now I need to get to the gym and try to work off the excess from this past week!
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