Dining Out: pleasant dining at La Scala
by Lynn Williams
maindish@baltimoreguide.com
How do you get to La Scala? Practice, practice, practice!
Or, if it’s the restaurant of that name that you want, head east from the Inner Harbor on Eastern Avenue, and look to your left.
I’ve never been to the famed opera house in Milan, but I recently had dinner at the namesake restaurant in Little Italy, and (to continue the musical metaphor) while our meal had a pleasant tenor, there were few high notes.
Diners enter La Scala by climbing a curving flight of redbrick steps—“la scala” means “the staircase”—into a dining room that is unremarkable except for one thing: a recessed indoor bocce court! If you like sports with your dinner, this is a lot more fun than watching baseball at the bar.
Our waiter, a real pro, arrived quickly with menus. Very promising menus, too, packed with dishes far more interesting that the usual red-sauced fare. Polenta alla Griglia ($8.95), for instance, sauced with cognac, pancetta, and porcini mushrooms. A good polenta is delicious even served plain, and this combination sounded heavenly. However, the polenta, served in curiously flat, uniform slabs, had no flavor whatsoever, and the sauce, although good with the crusty house loaf, didn’t have the expected “wow” factor.
My companion’s Funghi Abbruzzese ($6.95) was spunkier: chopped fresh mushrooms in a warm olive-oil bath flavored with garlic, basil and rosemary and blanketed with lots and lots of melted mozzarella. It resembled a French onion soup, and was almost impossible to eat neatly, but the flavors connected.
Not so, unfortunately, her Pollo alla Scala ($20.95). The portion was dauntingly large – two huge chicken breasts – but not tasty enough to make this an asset. The poached breasts were near-tasteless, and the white wine sauce, even with its additions of artichoke heart pieces and lump crab, contributed little. The whole concoction both looked and tasted, well, beige.
I was tempted by the veal dishes, which are given a lot of space on the menu and are reportedly chef Nino Germano’s specialty. But after hearing altogether too much on the subject from PETA and my vegetarian daughter, I’ve given veal a pass for a while. Instead, I chose a special, bronzino ($29.95), served whole and simply cooked with olive oil, lemon and herbs. (The waiter will fillet and butterfly the fish at tableside, if you wish, but you’ll still have to watch out for the random bone.) Delicate yet flavorful, and very moist, it was a savory success.
The entrees are served with a side of penne with marinara; nice, but I would have liked something green to offset our rather monochromatic dinner.
For dessert we chose profiteroles ($7.95), cream puffs lavished with pudding-like chocolate sauce, and homemade tiramisu. We liked the tiramisu just fine, but I am old enough to be shocked at a price tag of $8.95 for a piece of cake. Still, if you have a sweet tooth, you have good reason to sing this restaurant’s praises.
La Scala
Location: 1012 Eastern Ave.
Hours: Open 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.,
4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fri.-Sat.,
2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sun.
Phone: 410-783-9209
Our dinner for two: $91.64
The Latest Dish…
With spring comes the return of Baltimore’s downtown Farmers’ Market…as well as the Sunday Farmer’s Market Menu at Corks, 1026 S. Charles St. The wine-friendly Federal Hill restaurant’s chefs will be combing the market for the finest seasonal ingredients, which they will work into a multi-course menu. The offerings will change weekly, but have a look at this sample menu: black bean and speckled butter bean soup with applewood smoked bacon and fried oyster mushroom garnish; heirloom tomato salad with fresh purple basil, Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese and Tuscan olive oil; saffron-poached scallop with white baba ganouj and tarragon foam; grilled flank steak with white sweet potatoes, sautéed Osaka mustard green and black truffle beurre blanc, and apple and Asian pear blinis with apple compote and wildflower honey. The Market Menu will be served Sundays through December –including Mother’s Day! – and costs $30. For reservations, call 410-752-3810.
