That's amore!

Ahh, Italia...how I miss you. Since flying back out to Rome would be WAY too expensive, I will enjoy the cuisine here in Charlotte for a lot less money! Anna, Audrey, and I traveled to Vivace on Metropolitan Ave. last night and had a delicious meal.  I really loved the decor in this restaurant. It was fancy without being snobby or stuffy, and I felt comfortable wearing my scrubs since I went there after work. I LOVED the lights in the dining room but was apparently not smart enough to take a picture of them since I don't have one....

The Top 100 dish was the Pappardelle alla Bolognese, which I had WAY too hard of a time pronouncing. But, before we get to that, we split (well, Anna and I split and Audrey ate a little bit of) a seasonal salad. The salad had mixed greens, fresh peaches, goat cheese, crispy prosciutto, hazelnuts, and a lemon honey vinaigrette. It was wonderful - so light and fresh. I don't think I've ever had peaches OR hazelnuts in a salad and, let me tell you, they were delicioso!

Look at how pretty I am!

For our meal, I had the Pappardelle and Audrey and Anna had the Roasted Vegetable Tortellini.

Roasted Vegetable Tortellini

Pappardelle alla Bolognese

Everything was SO wonderful! The pappardelle came in either an "appetizer" portion or a dinner portion. I got the smaller size since there was no way I was skipping out on dessert! The pasta was homemade and I could've eaten a whole bowl of just that. The sauce had a "goat cheese crema" and a piave vecchio, which is apparently a type of cheese. The portion size was perfect and the bread they gave us (with a white bean spread) was perfect for sopping up the extra sauce.

The tortellini dish was very tasty. The tortellini were huge and filled with ricotta and veggies. The sauce was a piave brodo, or cheese broth. We all thought it would be heavy but it wasn't. The vegetables had a little crisp to them so everything tasted so fresh.

Of course, then we got the dessert menu. Let me tell you, we asked the waiter about the desserts when we were telling him our main dish orders...or maybe even the salad order...we were that excited. I chose the Peach Crostata, served with a warm blueberry sauce and a sweet corn gelato. Anna chose chocolate and vanilla gelato, and Audrey got the Warm Bittersweet Chocolate Cake. The cake was served with cherry vanilla gelato and a cherry reduction.  Mmmmm...I sigh just thinking about them.

Homemade gelato

Peach Crostata



Bittersweet Chocolate Cake



 I asked the waiter if I should get the tiramisu or the peach crostata. He suggested the crostata, which I was a little hesitant about given the sweet corn gelato. He assured me that the gelato wasn't overpowering if you eat everything together. He was right (and of course no tiramisu could live up to Mike's Pastry Shop), although I did even like the gelato by itself. The pastry was so perfect, crispy and soft at the same time, sweet but not too sweet. The blueberries added a little something to the dish, and the corn gelato helped even out the sweetness of the peaches and the blueberries.

Anna had rave reviews about her gelato and even proclaimed the vanilla better than the chocolate, which she assures us she never does (I tend to agree with her on that). Audrey loved the cake (it had a warm molten center) but wasn't too much of a fan of the gelato.

All in all, I ate way too much, but it was such a delicious meal. The ONLY complaint I would have was that the menu was hard to read since it was in Italian. However, our waiter was so nice and really explained everything well (his name was Joe so if you go, ask for him). AND, to make the night even better, Anna and Audrey assured me that I would be back in time to catch some of Charlotte Restaurant Week. Color me relieved!

Grazie for reading!