superba snack bar

so we went to superba snack bar in venice in early december of 2012, and i uploaded the photos to flickr and everything, but completely forgot to blog about it (yes, this is a repeating theme of the last few posts, but i had a hectic fall!). it was an absolutely amazing meal. we couldn't decide what we wanted, so we went with the chef's tasting menu (omakase, if you will) and were pleasantly surprised by what came out.

first off were three items off the cold cuts menu: porchetta di testa pastrami on rye with dill pickles, smoked bacon, julia's chicken liver mousse with balsamic figs. they all came out on the board above with bread slices, but you can really only see the mousse. and by julia, they mean julia child, whose recipe they used.

next were two items from the "from our backyards" section of the menu. elderflower poached persimmons and burrata with pistachio crumble, bitter greens and hibiscus jelly (above) and heirloom pumpkin with sichuan pepper crust, pomegranate, brown butter, ricotta salta, crispy shallots (below). the burrata/persimmon/pistachio combo was pretty mind-blowing. and the flavor and texture profile of it never really settled, as in every second a bite of it was in your mouth was different than the one before or after. when the pumpkin arrive, i said out loud to james "hm, this should be interesting - i'm really not a fan of pumpkin," then i took a bite of it and said "i think i like pumpkin now." super fresh and light and savory and sweet all at once.

i actually don't see this next dish on the menu, but it was braised mushrooms - several kinds if memory serves, and a delicious salty and creamy sauce. both it and the crispy brussels sprouts with scallions, dashi broth and poached egg (below) were off their "snacks" section. the egg was just barely poached, and the dashi broth was very good. and how can you go wrong with crispy brussels sprouts? and all mixed together? if i could find anything wrong with this meal, it would be, just maybe, that these two dishes were a bit on the salty side on their own.

whole wheat rigatoni "cacio pepe" (black pepper and pecorino, above) was so simple yet so awesome. perfectly savory and peppory and the pasta (all made in house) had just the perfect al dente-ness (or as i prefer, chew) to it. garganelli and polpette with grilled raddichio, bocarones, tomato sugo (below) was really interesting because i didn't realize there was bocarones (or anchovies) when it came out and thought it was just a meatball and tomato sauce pasta, but it had really strong seafood flavor - and i mean that in the best way possible: umami and sweet with an underlying salinity that was in such contrast to what i was expecting.

not going to lie, but i don't even remember really what we had for dessert but they both came in little jars and were both delicious. i believe the one on the left was a smore, and i'm completely blanking on the one on the right. needless to say at this point, but this was such an amazing meal, and i absolutely loved it, and would absolutely love to go back and eat there every day if i could.

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superba snack bar
533 rose avenue, venice
http://superbasnackbar.com/