I’m glad you had a preview, (sans the white truffles), of some of the dishes we had at Valentino on Friday night. Sadly, you missed the white truffles by just a few hours.

Chef Pellegrini told me that the truffles didn’t arrive from Alba, (Italy), until 2:30 p.m. I would imagine Chef Pellegrini placed more than one nervous phone call to his truffle supplier asking when his precious cargo would arrive. Having white truffles delivered merely hours before a private dinner is cutting it a bit close!

Aside from a few quibbles about the execution of some of the side dishes, (cold, gummy polenta with the Quail Meatloaf, and limpid, tasteless red cabbage with the Buffalo Tenderloin), I found the overall quality of our dinner to be outstanding. The wine pairings perfectly matched and balanced the cuisine.

A literal “shower” of white truffles rained down on every single dish-making for a memorable dinner indeed. White truffles were even threaded into the chocolate dessert. Now imagine pairing truffles and chocolate. It was both intriguing and delicious.

I agree ELV, Chef Pellegrini and his staff are gracious hosts and Valentino and the Café out front are well worth a visit.