Casellula

I’m an avid reader of Served on Serious Eats, a column from the “front of the house” so to speak.  I love reading Hannah’s tales of how close she is with her coworkers – which makes all the difference in the world for any job – and how lovingly she speaks of the dishes she serves, the diners with whom she interacts.  It really cheers me to hear someone who doesn’t work at a restaurant just as a means to an end – though from reading her column, I’m fairly certain Hannah isn’t a career waitress – she really does love working at her restaurant. 

A few times, she’s alluded to certain dishes that made me salivate; I wondered if she’d ever reveal the name of the establishment.  I had a vague idea of where it might be, but I was never certain; finally, one day a few weeks ago, searching for a place suitable for a dinner date with DT, I realized that Casellula is the place, listed in Hannah’s profile!  Duhhh, Yvo, good one there.  Thankfully, DT was like, that’s perfect! and off we went. 

A stroke of coincidence or stalker-y weirdness led to Hannah actually being our server that night, but I felt awkward about blurting out “Hi, hey, I love your column, and you are one of the biggest reasons we’re even here right now!” so I kept my mouth shut.  I did, however, ask her to help us create a flight of 3 cheeses for us, only telling her that we didn’t want goat cheese tonight.  I knew this was going to be OK because … one of her columns talked about her restaurant doing just such a thing for people. 

From left to right in the photo, we received Barilotto, from Italy, a raw buffalo milk cheese, with a buffalo milk cake; Calcagno, also from Italy, a raw sheep milk cheese, with pesto on a sesame tuile cookie; and Meadow Creek Grayson, from Virginia, a raw cow milk cheese, with a pickled quail egg.  I’ve had Grayson before, but not the other two, so this was interesting… especially because I didn’t recall having Grayson before, and it is one of the types of cheeses that I’m not too crazy about, stinky and slightly plasticky in my opinion.

I really liked that each cheese came with something with which to nibble it.  The first cheese was good, very smooth and pleasant, but what blew DT AND my minds was the accompanying buffalo milk cake.  We’ve made it a point to hunt down where it’s sourced and will be going there shortly for more…
The second cheese reminded me much of many hard Italian cheeses, and while I enjoyed it with its accompaniments, DT seemed less into it than I.
And as I mentioned, I don’t like Grayson much, so I ate very little of it.  DT really did not like the pickled quail egg, though from my class notes on this cheese, there’s a sandwich shop that makes a panini/grilled cheese sandwich with Grayson and pickles that is supposed to be out of this world, so I can see a pickled quail egg working if you like these flavors. 

Next, we ordered a ton of dishes for sharing, cuz DT & I are cool like that 🙂

Next up was our platter of cured meats… braseola, speck, and smoked goose breast.  While the first two were meh-meh, the smoked goose breast was, in a word, heaven in my mouth.  I was blown away by the deep, rich flavor, the complexity of the meat, the slight nuances that made it goose, but not gamey at all.  DT and I both thoroughly enjoyed this, and I have been seeking it out for my own consumption, haha.

Our next little order were the miso mustard pickles.  I’d really enjoyed miso pickles at Ippudo, so I was keen to try these.  They were quite yummy, though not quite the same as Ippudo’s… I don’t think I’d order them again though, not interesting enough.

One of the main reasons I’d first been drawn to this restaurant was Hannah’s description of these beauties: prosciutto wrapped, cheese stuffed peppadews.  DT put one in her mouth first and a squeal burst forth: “Ooh!”  I quickly reached over to pop one in my mouth, and we both agreed these were delightful picky type foods that I’d like to try recreating at home.  Salty from the prosciutto, slightly sweet and succulent from the pepper, with the final texture being creamy from the cheese, everything played off each other so well.

I can’t remember quite what this was, I know it was pate of some sort covered with creme fraiche and it was DELICIOUS.  I believe it was liver pate, blended to the highest power so it was creamy, fatty delicious spread on the bread.  When we ran out of bread – that bowl is pretty darn deep – a request for more bread was met with pleasantness, and “Oh of course” no attitude.  Mmm, I loved this dish… it’s making me hungry right now!

DT has given me the right to publicly castigate her for ordering this dish, a trio of congee.  For those that don’t know, congee is an Asian rice porridge dish that is found in Chinese (and apparently – which I didn’t know – in Korean) cuisine.  As you know, I’m of Asian heritage, and I have had the best congee in the world (in my humblest of opinions) for $2.75 a giant bowl in Chinatown.  DT is also of Asian heritage, and I’m sure has had excellent and inexpensive congee as well.  But she said “I’m feeling this congee with kimchee trio,” and I said, “Well, if you want it, order it.”

We’ve come to terms with it: she’s an idiot for ordering it and I’m an idiot for letting her order it.  In my defense, though, I’d basically picked every other dish, so I was trying to be less dictator-ish.  What’s your excuse 😛

To put it mildly, this dish was a complete letdown.  I didn’t have high hopes but the congee was gummy and over-boiled, lacking distinct flavor, and the toppings did not add much but rather made me want to … well.  We didn’t finish this dish – we each took a few bites of each type, then pushed it aside and let Hannah so kindly take it away from us.  On to better things!

Next up was the pig’s ass sandwich.  Pulled pork, melted cheese, a chili aioli… How can you go wrong? 

YOU CAN’T.  While we were both too full at this point to eat the sandwich, I managed a bite or two before taking it home.  DT took her half home, so I’m not sure exactly how she felt, but I’m sure if it were awful, she’d have told me how bad it was.  I liked it – the crispy bread, with the soft meat and delicious cheese… and the slightly spicy aioili was simply delicious. 

Last but so not least was our roasted beet salad, with buffalo mozzarella, toasted hazelnuts and I believe chard.  This was simply, yet again, an example of how well the flavors played together.  The person who designed this menu knows what they are doing.  A bit of chard, a bit of mozzarella, and a beet with a toasted hazelnut all in one bite: perfection.  The sweetness of the beets, the crunchiness of the hazelnuts, everything just… it was like a perfect playground of well-behaved 5 year olds who all know how to share, take turns, and play together.  Both of us were extremely happy with this; I even took some home for my lunch the next day. 

After all of that, we were way too full to consider dessert, so we trooped on out and on home.  The wonderful service (thanks again, Hannah! to whom I did not introduce myself, nor did I tell her I was a food blogger, so she was not “on her best behavior” for reporting purposes), the casual, laidback atmosphere, and the reasonable prices with the excellent mostly-hit-and-only-a-few-misses menu all work together to ensure I will definitely return.  DT and I have already discussed a return visit 😉 but alas, there are so many other restaurants on our list to try…

I want to actually spotlight the service not just because I read her blog, but because she took the time out to talk to us about the cheeses in our flight, to call over the cheesemonger (I think that’s what she’s called?) to speak more extensively on the cheeses in our flight, and all of this on a night when they were short staffed and really busy.  She didn’t seem flustered or frustrated when we had a few questions to ask, and she didn’t get annoyed with us whatsoever.  We lingered over our meal, as we tend to do when we’re together, and there were no dirty looks shot our way – just envious ones from those waiting. 

Yvo says: I really enjoyed myself at Casellula.  There are plenty of menu items to keep just about anyone (well, vegans need not apply) happy with their choices, the service is great, and the atmosphere is exactly what you’d want in a wine bar: space to sit and relax, chat; volume not too loud, and dark but not too dark to see your food.  I thought everything was reasonably priced as well.
highly recommended