submitted by Sharyn Alden; photos by Ellen Carlson & Rebecca Prochaska
Walking into Bar Corallini, in the Schenk’s Corners neighborhood on October 9, I had the feeling this warm, welcoming venue, with its strong Mediterranean vibes, could eventually be a go-to place where everyone would know your name.
The new restaurant, which opened in the same space where Chocolaterian used to be, has a glorious new look and robust feel and energy. The name, which means “little coral” in Italian, is also the nickname for those who live in Torre del Greco, the hometown of Corallini’s chef, Giovanni Novella.
Our five-course dinner, which included a glass of red or white wine, started with an enormous antipasti platter of items such as Prosciutto di Parma, and grilled eggplant and zucchini, which we passed around family-style. Next up, a heaping salad plate with seasonal garden veggies dressed with aged balsamic vinaigrette.
The third course, the pasta course, arrived in a large dish to be shared with all. The rigatoni alla Bolognese, created with house-made beef and pork Bolognese sauce was seasoned with fresh ricotta. The veggie choice- Pennoni alla Norma was highlighted with tomato and eggplant.
The fourth course, the entrée, was also served family style, a nice idea for giving many guests a wide number of dishes to sample. That gave us the option of having ‘seconds’ if we liked. The Pollo marsala, a breaded chicken dish and scene stealer, arrived in a creamy marsala sauce, and won high praise.
We paused then, waiting for a finale that would finish off the hand-crafted Italian dining.
So it was fitting to end the dinner with a deeply satisfying taste of dark chocolate.
The dessert course, dark chocolate sorbet, whipped up from the creative talents of Baron’s Gelato in Sheboygan, had a glistening, unique velvety texture with a super-sized taste. Accompanied by mini-cannolis, the dessert course had just the right about of sweetness that deserved to be considered the finale to this new restaurant’s line-up of featured dishes.
Then it was time to raise our glasses in toast to event organizer and Fellowship Chair, Rebecca Prochaska.
I heard many say it was delightful dinner in a beautifully re-defined space. It was also a good choice for catching up with old friends and initiating new friendships.
Instead of following the yellow brick road to get to a magical destination, we drove through some beautiful Dane County roads on February 5 that led us to Vignette where a candle-lighted long table filled the length of the room. The house was soon filled by Rotarians and that means the sounds of conversation and laughter everywhere. Chef Mark Wroczynski prepared us for a journey with him along the ancient spice route sampling various spices and surprising us with a variety of techniques he used to make each morsel seem one mile further on the path.
We began with a red wine & star anise poached pear, orange coriander chocolate sauce, brandied caramel cream and for the savory—pepper candied almonds. Course 2: We were served a Szechuan pepper marshmallow wrapped in a crispy wonton in a bowl and then the soup was added—sweet potato bisque with 5-spice roasted pumpkin seeds. He warned us that it would numb our lips, but not interfere with our further enjoyment. Course 3: resting on orange gastrique was a roll of beef wrapped around roasted Chinese broccoli, roasted ginger sesame carrots, with the star of the evening—cashew fried rice arancini (ball) made from creamy risotto rice with mixed vegetables, formed into balls, breaded, and fried. Course 4: Our last stop on the spice route was Key lime & matcha mousse torte with raspberry sauce. The pretzel and ginger snaps crust as promised made it both sweet and savory.
Twenty Rotarians enjoyed an evening of haute cuisine and interesting conversation during our Culinary Arts Fellowship on December 4, 2017. Many thanks to Boris Frank (pictured here with Steve Wallman) for planning an innovative dining experience with Chef Tim Van Doren from Johnny Delmonico’s Steakhouse. Our server, Cynthia McDonald, was well known to our group for her service at our weekly Rotary meetings. She made the evening special.
Our first course began with Chef’s demonstration on how to correctly shuck oysters as we learned the difference between the briny East Coast oysters and the more fruity flavor of the West Coast variety. Also, it’s OK to eat oysters year round because they are farmed around the world dispelling the idea of eating them only in a month ending in “R”. The oysters were accompanied by a charred scallion mignonette and sparkling wine.
Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin 