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Il FALCO RESTAURANT REVIEW
A Restarant Aging Well
By
Patricia Brooks
any restaurants open with a surge and end limply. It
is more unusual for a restaurant to improve as it ages. Il Falco
Ristorante in downtown Stamford, now in its ninth year, has clearly
entered its surge, considerably fine tuned from its early years. It
had a Good rating to begin with, but now it merits a Very Good
indeed. The recitation of specials has been replaced at dinner with
a printed list. Service, always polished, seems even more attentive
to diner's needs, without hovering or being obtrusive - a fine
line.
The decor is much the same, with lace cafe curtains at the front windows and mirrored walls, though the posters in the nonsmoking section have been replaced with floral prints. And weren't the orchid walls once a pale pink? Mostly though, it is the menu and food that have developed into something very special. We began with excellent warmed Italian bread, a small dish of ricotta to spread on it and a bottle of extra-virgin olive oil with a garlic-rosemary accent for dipping. Then came a duet of appetizer specials that proved to be sure-fire. Polenta with shiitake mushrooms was a delicate delight - a cake of soft, baked polenta surrounded by an abundance of sautéed mushroom slices. Eggplant rollatini, two slices of eggplant wrapped around a ricotta stuffing and baked, came on a plate with two large stuffed mushroom caps, packed with a delicious mixture of ground veal, chicken, mushrooms & tomatoes. Other starters that hit the spot where stuffed mushroom caps (five of them with the same filling as above); fried calamari (light and crisply deep fried, with a seasoned red dip), and thinly sliced carpaccio, herb accented and crowned with the intense flavor of sliced parmigiano-reggiano cheese. |
Entrees we feasted on included a huge plateful
of cloud-like gnocchi enveloped in a vigorously garliced pesto;
pollo plutone, a piping hot chicken breast stuffed with jumbo shrimp
and asparagus, and sautéed in a wine-mushroom sauce; scalop-pine
alla valdostana, a large, meaty, stuffed veal chop, and gamberi
Portofino, jumbo shrimp with mushrooms in a zesty wine-mustard sauce
that held its own with, and enhanced, the shrimp.
Desserts at an Italian restaurant are often an afterthought, but not so at Il Falco. A special pleasure was the Sicilian cassata, layers of sponge cake alternating with a rich, sweetened ricotta mixture. Timamisù (lavish with Kahlua and cognac) was a worthy choice, as was the moist, light-textured chocolate cake with raspberry filling. Only the heavy ricotta cheesecake disappointed. Dinner for two came to $52, before drinks, tip and tax.
The wine list has many Italian, French and American vintages
beginning at $14. Il Falco perseveres, getting better as it goes along
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