The Masters vs. The Baby...

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!