Vetri vs. Osteria Jersey Cage Match
After
attending the first cage match for Amis vs. Osteria, my fiancé and I stalked
the crap out of Alla Spina's Twitter feed to see when the next one was going to
be announced. Unfortunately, we missed the next two due to being out of town,
Osteria Jersey beat both Alla Spina and Amis, but we were able to make it to
the Vetri vs. Osteria Jersey match that decided the winner of the Vetri Family
cage match series. Osteria Jersey hadnt really been open all that long and was the baby of the Vetri Family of restaurants, so for it be going up against Vetri, it was pretty impressive. This time around we were actually able to snag two extra
seats in addition to ours, so we brought a couple friends to show them what all
the fun was about.
This
time around, the secret ingredients were farro, long hots, top round and
blueberries. Before the match kicked into high gear, Marc Vetri came up to give
us a piece of advice. He told us that we should judge the competition based on
food alone, and not on all the smoke and mirrors we were about to experience
from the Osteria Jersey crew. I wasn’t really sure what he was talking about
until they came upstairs, all dressed up like hillbilly's. They put on quite a
show all night I have to say.
The
first course was a salt baked quail with farro from Vetri and a moscato and
ginger cocktail. It was a fantastic presentation and an extremely delicious
little bird. Adam Leonti brought the bird up first in its salt baked crust to
show us all, and then took it back down to the kitchen to break the crust, and
carve up the quail. While I thought the quail was very tasty, I didn’t get as
much of a salt flavoring as I thought I would. I actually thought it could have
used a bit more seasoning to be honest, but the farro was a very tasty
accompaniment. Was it the star? I am not so sure. The pairing was awesome, a
delicious concoction of moscato and ginger juice.
The
first course from Osteria Jersey used the beef top round in a fried mortadella
sandwich with caramelized cippolini onions, foie gras mustard and pickles. It
looked like a pork roll sandwich, but it tasted even better than you can
imagine. The fried mortadella was amazing, and the richness and acidity added
to the sandwich by the mustard was outstanding. The plating was a little
lacking, but they had a theme all night of kind of a trailer trash idea. Their
cocktail pairing was delicious as well. It was a play on a black cherry soda,
and it tasted just like it, except a bit stronger.
Next
up from both teams were pasta courses using the long hots, and drink pairings
of beer from both as well. From team Vetri, we had a whole wheat paccheri with
long hots and sardines, served with a glass of Schneider weiss. From team
Osteria Jersey, we had corzetti with long hot pesto and ramps and a stella
atrois served in a solo cup. Great efforts by both teams here. Long hots aren’t
something I particularly think of on a regular basis that pairs well with
pasta, but they really did in both cases. The freshness of the pastas in both
cases was amazing and the spice really kicked into you the more you ate. I preferred
Vetri's beer pairing of the Schneider Weiss because of its touch of sour, and
smooth flavor, it simply seemed to compliment the heat of the pasta better.
However, I enjoyed the corzetti with long hot pesto from Osteria Jersey to the
Vetri pasta. It was a bit more tender, and the really picked up the sauce with
each bite.
It
was time for the third courses, and the fullness and booze was starting to set
it. These cagematches really are a test of your stamina. Both teams served red
wine with their third courses, a melot from Osteria Jersey, served in a Hawaiian
punch can, and a glass of Lisini from Vetri. Vetri's wine choice blew Osteria
Jersey's out of the water, although I would have liked to taste Osteria
Jersey's not in a can. Nothing tastes better out of a can, and the wine
definitely picked up some of that metallic taste. Vetri's wine choice was absolutely perfect
though. It was a delicious a light wine, but it stood up well next to the beef
involtini that was served with it. The involtini was stuffed with morel
mushrooms, giving it an earthy interior flavor to contrast to the seared
exterior. The Osteria Jersey plating effort was outstanding. They served a
blueberry bbq chicken and apricots with blueberry corn bread on a giant wooden
serving board. The flavor of the chicken and the cornbread was phenomenal. The cornbread
was one of the best things I ate all year no joke. The cornbread was incredibly
moist, and the tart and sweet blueberry sauce simply made it that much better.
The chicken was awesome as well. It was charred just enough to leave the skin
crispy and flavorful. It was pretty neck and neck for me at this point. It was
going to come down to dessert.
Final
courses were coming out and we were nearing our capacity. Plating the entire
evening definitely was won by Osteria Jersey, and that didn’t change come
dessert time. They basically served us a campfire smore roast, complete with a
fire and smores ingredients and a hazelnut butter and jelly cocktail. They served
us farro cracker smores and puff farro rice crispy treats with the cocktail,
but none of it really worked for me. The best of the dish was the puffed farro
rice krispie treats. The crackers were dry and overly hard, and the marshmallows weren’t all that flavorful. The drink was super sweet and just
odd. I liked the idea, but the execution wasn’t really there. Vetri's dessert
course was phenomenal. It was a blueberry baked Alaska served with limoncello
to sip on. It was much simpler than the effort of Osteria Jersey, but it was
perfectly executed. The meringue was perfectly toasted and had amazing texture.
The blueberries tartness cut through the sweetness of the ice cream and cake
perfectly. It was heaven on a plate. What is there to say about limoncello. I
love it, so this was the perfect way to end the meal for me.
Marc
Vetri's opening statements to us all described the outcome of the match
perfectly. Osteria Jersey was more show and shock value than execution at the
end of the day, and Vetri came out on top by a healthy margin. Dessert blew it
out of the water for me, but others had them way ahead even going into the
dessert course. It was another fantastic evening in the upstairs of Alla Spina.
It’s a really intimate event where you can share a great time with friends and tons
of great food and drinks as well. Keep and eye out! These are events you don’t want
to miss! Cheers!
