L'Amante Review

      For the dear wife's birthday and the fact I had been away to sunny, warm Florida for a business trip, I decided to go all out and take her to L'Amante. Despite it being around the Burlington scene for a while and despite many friends saying we must go and despite all the great reviews , we had never been to L'Amante. The room is elegant without being stuffy. And service was first rate. The menu looked very enticing but what won us over was the 3 course tasting menu. The particular night was the food of Veneto, (The Venice region). A three course dinner with three wines paired by the chef. We both decided to partake.

      The first thing you should know about L'amantes is it makes no pretense about being anything but a special occasion type of place. Anniversaries, Birthdays, all should be celebrated here. If you are going to come her on a regular basis, you better have deep pockets. Our meal was $58.00 each for a 3 course meal with wine, add dessert and tip and taxes and we were pushing $175.00. Was it worth it? Read on.

      First up some great bread served with hummus and a chicken liver pate. Man was that pate ever good, that sure woke up the taste buds. Our first course was white anchovies served over roasted red peppers with capers. And served with this a 2012 Pieropan Soave Classico. Wow talk about a grand opening, tons of different flavors with salty, and sweet, paired perfectly with a nice crisp white. This chef really knows how to pair wines , (as he should by being one the few Master Sommeliers in the world).

      For round two the chef served us white polenta , served over a wild mushroom ragu. WOW is all I can say this was by far the star of the evening. The flavors in the mushrooms (and I don't really care for mushrooms), were incredible and paired with the white polenta, that had been crisped up into a cake form, was divine. Pair this with a 2003 Nicolas Testal and you have a match made in heaven.

      The third course is where things faltered a bit. It was the course I was most excited about, grilled boar sausage, and quail with radicchio trevisano. The sausage was superb, incredible flavors and both the wife and I wished there was more of it. The quail was good but definitely overcooked, to the point of the meat being a bit dry. And the radicchio was a total failure, WAY over charded, so all you could taste was burnt leaves. This left a flavor in your mouth that overpowered the boar and quail. All you could taste was burnt. For the price we were paying this left a bit of a bad taste in our mouth (literally HA).

      For dessert, we had a great chocolate cake with an incredible espresso cream on top. A great way to end the meal. So pretty much an excellent meal with one miscue, forgivable but NOT when you are paying $175.00 for two. At this price point every portion of the meal better be perfect.

Food,                      4.00  Excellent food , but for one miscue. Did it ruin the evening , of course not but for this price it shouldn't of happened.
Beer and Wine,     3.75  Incredible selection, very expensive
Service,                  3.50 Service was very professional, just not very warm.

Ambiance,             4.5   Beautiful ding room and charming bar, possibly the best in Burlington..
Price,                     3.0  VERY pricey, but the excellence in taste and presentation make up for it. Definitely a special occasion place. And slight miscues need to be taken care of.

Overall                  3.75  A really beautiful room, innovative and tasty food. A great wine list but some small miscues and that huge cloud , the price, makes this a once a year or so place to eat.