At Bogart's

If you are ever in the vicinity of Padova, you absolutely must stop by Bogart's, a restaurant run by a friend of a very close friend.

So, anyhow, it was the first time inside a restaurant for lunch, with absolutely no one else except me, Stefano (owner/chef), Giovanni and Debora.

The restaurant itself is pretty large (150+ seating), with a very upscale look and feel, which is matched by a very fancy menu, excellent food, so the low prices are shocking enough so you feel something is wrong. But there isn't!

The food: me and Stefano threw together some chicken with the standard tandoori mix, with some lime juice and cream. They keep onion and garlic as a paste under oil, so it's throw, throw, throw and cook. The cooking range is just massive... and the smallest pot makes enough for 5 or so at least. (I won't talk about the rice as it was a disaster).

Then Stefano puts together homemade gnocchi that he makes himself every two days, and a sauce with capasanta (Mediterranean scallop) and calamari (squid), with onion-garlic, olive oil, tomato paste, zucchine and flambéd with brandy. Although I'm not much of a sea-food person, it was just VERY tasty!!

Then there was a cake topped with fresh strawberries in cream. And then, extremely good coffee (Lavazza); another thing I'm not, in general, terribly fond of.
*Sigh*. I need more days like these...

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ps: here are the coordinates of Bogart's (take note, Cristian.G-M!):