By Pam Schwartz
Tom and I love to cook at home, but there are some nights I can’t
handle the thought of having to stop for groceries for something fun and
then cook and clean up. By 9:30 PM all we have accomplished is to have
dinner, albeit delicious.
This random weekday night I was feeling something hearty and just made
the executive decision we should go out. Its never too hard to convince
Tom, so we settled on Sette (1407 N Orange Ave, Orlando, FL 32804) having heard good things about it. We both
love Italian food but rarely eat it out because
we often feel we can do it better at home.
With Sette this was NOT the case. It was *I think* the first time
stateside I’ve ever felt I COULDN’T make something on the same par (at
least not on my first try!) The place has a nice vibe with an open
kitchen layout. I beat Tom there and so we had to do-si-do
seats once he arrived so he could have his preferred view on things for
this sketch.
Tom and I are rarely food compatible. For goodness sakes, the man’s
favorite food is hot dogs. I eat most of what he eats but he rarely
likes to get too adventurous, though he’s gotten much better. I relented
from my wish list appetizer and let Tom get us the
Italian sausage and grapes. I couldn’t quite get behind the idea of hot
grapes and was concerned about the general levels of fennel involved.
The excellent waiter assured me that if I got a bit of each ingredient
in every bite, I’d be pleased, and I was. Surprisingly
so.
For our entrees Tom ordered the Clam Linguini (forgetting he’s not a
huge fan of anything lemony) but he still really liked it, and I had the
Amatriciana Paccheri, the rigatoni gigante was so perfectly al dente,
exquisite, and the dish seasoned so I could only
shake my head to keep myself from crying into the beautiful bowl of
noodles. Meanwhile, we had waiters, hostesses, and the owner of the
restaurant swing by our table multiple times to check on us and have
small chat. Something I always appreciate, I like
getting to know folks and enjoy the conversation while Tom sketches.
Trina Gregory-Propst, one of the owners, and I chatted about making ice cream and
flavor profiles, given my recent obsession with it. Tom gets homemade
vanilla chocolate chip (it is all he ever wants), which she laughed
about, while I experiment with honey lavender,
coffee, or sweet corn profiles.
Perhaps not surprisingly, she managed to talk us into dessert. I,
the lemon cake of which I’d heard rumors as to its greatness and Tom the
special chocolate hazelnut creation. They were both really excellent
desserts and enormous in portion.
It is safe to say that Tom and I will definitely be repeat visitors to
Sette, there are more scrumptious sounding items for us to sample.
Definitely the type of place to take your friends and family to for a
nice night out when they are in town.