SENSI Ristorante, Wine & Cocktail Bar (click here to go to website)

UPDATE 2:  We met Cinzia, Grace, Sergio & Laura at SENSI on Saturday night for a very late aperitivo – 8:30 – in their wine bar.  The wine and conversation was wonderful but the snacks they had out, although interesting and plentiful, had been there for a while and were a bit dried out and cold.  As I said, it was a very late aperitivo and we stayed until they closed.

UPDATE 1:  Thursday night we went back to SENSI for dinner.   Our new housekeeper had just spent an hour cleaning our stove with a toothpick and we really didn’t want to mess it up so soon.  Again, there were not many people in the dining room but the welcome was warm and food very good.  Since I didn’t have any paper with me, I put the Italian names for our dishes in my iPhone, however, when I look at them now it appears that my auto-correct played mayhem with my notes.  So I shall tell you what we had just in English.  Larry started with small gnocci in a four-cheese sauce with nuts followed by medallions of pork served with mushrooms and crispy bacon which were both wonderful.  I had Oso Bucco (veal shanks) with spinach, which was very tasty.  We thought we were finished but the Chef offered us free dolce – which we did not turn down.  We were served individual chestnut cakes with a sauce of vino cotto – yum.

This summer, when we would walk to and from the train station, just behind the baptistry we would pass the sign for this restaurant.  But when you looked inside renovations were in process.  I have to admit I had forgotten about it until the other day when Larry brought home a card and asked when we were going to give it a try.  Coincidently, a day later when I stopped by Cinzia M.’s office there was a letter on Sensi letterhead on her desk.  I asked if she knew much about the restaurant.  She explained that they were serving all the highest quality organic foods, beautiful dishes, and the owners were quite nice.  They also have nice selection of vegetarian dishes.  We agreed that we should go there together this Friday night for apertivo and bring as many people as we can gather.

Last Saturday Larry suggested we go out for lunch and we saw this as an opportunity to check out the facility and have a small taste of their food.  The facility is beautiful (minimalist contemporary) with a nice bar, a terrace that is now enclosed in clear vinyl for cool-weather seating, a beautiful and inviting seating area in the courtyard garden, plus a lovely dining room.  They seem to have thought of everything.  Having just opened in September, there were not many customers for lunch, but we were greeted warmly and seated in the dining room.  The menu had many tempting dishes but we resorted to our personal favorites since we always like to see who has the best.  Because it was lunch, we only had two courses which were delicious, carefully prepared, beautifully presented and well priced.

A lovely Rosso Piceno by the glass

Primi:

Ravioli di Salsiccia Tartufati (Sausage ravioli with truffles)

Cannelloni di Carne al Pomodoro con Burrata (Meat cannelloni with tomato and mozzarella)

Dolce:

Conchiglia alla Nocciola (Shell with hazelnuts)

Sfoglia Mela e Crema (Apple pastry and cream)

We saw they already had posted a special menu for San Martino, Monday, 11 November, the celebration of new wine and chestnuts. (Click here for information on this celebration.) We thought we were going to go last night but we whimped-out since it was pouring rain and the restaurant is quite a walk away from our apartment. Hopefully the weather will be better on Friday night.