Websleuths has been running very slowly the past couple of days, and I was reluctant to start writing a review of our dinner date and have the site freeze up on me. We enjoyed our much-needed evening out but were unimpressed with the food at
Andiamo in Bloomfield Township. The restaurant is classy and elegant, service was friendly and capable, and there were some very nice touches like decanting our wine, grating fresh parmesan on salads/entrees, and offering freshly ground black pepper. When DH made the reservation (by phone), he was asked if we were celebrating a special occasion. He received a complimentary dessert (raspberry sorbet with chocolate sauce), but we also got a slice of New York Style Cheesecake to go and enjoyed it later in the evening.
We asked our waiter for recommendation on a shared appetizer, and he suggested the colossal shrimp, but DH was planning to order the seafood pasta dish, so we opted for the Jerusalem artichokes that were awesome. There were three large artichokes sauteed in olive oil and served with a lemony aioli and black sea salt. DH had two, and I had just one because I was going to order a chicken entree that included artichokes. Bread basket had several slices of crusty baguette and breadsticks that went well with our salads. I had a mini-Caesar salad - sans anchovies - with my dressing on the side. DH had the house salad that was drenched in vinaigrette: He wished that he had requested dressing on the side.
DH was disappointed with his seafood pasta that had two shrimps, two sea scallops, two mussels, and too much rubbery calamari, including tentacles that looked disgusting. The pasta sauce was nice but the dish in no way compares to a similar dish at Picano's. I ordered Chicken Olivia that is similar to Mamma Assunta that I enjoy at Picano's and have replicated at home. I didn't care for the presentation with two chicken breast halves on one said of an oval plate with penne pasta w/sauce and a medley of vegetables all glopped together on the other side of the plate. I would have preferred the vegetables on a separate plate, and I could have done without the pasta altogether. The chicken breasts in their lemon butter sauce were very good, but the veggie medley wasn't hot and was basically flavorless. The pasta sauce on the penne was awful. We both had leftovers for lunch yesterday as portions were more than ample.
Our waiter, Anthony, was a very nice looking young man with good energy and a pleasant personality. When I ordered my entree, Chicken Olivia, I was trying to be clever and funny by saying that I wanted the chicken dish that was named for one of the stars of
Gone With the Wind (Olivia de Havilland) and one of the characters on
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Olivia Benson). Anthony didn't know about either one of the Olivias but knew what I wanted because it's the only menu item with a person's name. We wondered what rock he lives under
We decided not to ask Anthony if he knew the history of the restaurant site where he works. Andiamo occupies the building that used to be Machus Red Fox from which Jimmy Hoffa disappeared after having lunch on July 31, 1975. The rest, as they say, is history: Jimmy Hoffa was never seen or heard from again.
No weather issues to hinder us - it's sunny and a balmy 62* in metro Detroit.
