Ristorante Pappaggallo
La Familia - Sopranos Dinner

Chaîne Sopranos Dinner

An unfogetabodit dinner

Chaîne diners really felt like part of la famiglia last month with a dinner like mumma used to make (only probably better) at Ristorante Papaggallos. The Sopranos themed night had the guys donning their finest RayBans and the girls blinged up to the nines. Business Editor, Lindsey Turnbull slipped on her stilettos and joined the party.

Themed nights can be great only if everyone joins in the mood of the event and gives it their all. The Chaînes Sopranos dinner was a smash hit therefore because everyone enthusiastically bit the bullet; their creative costumes and Mob swagger created a Sopranos TV set in the heart of West Bay.
Papagallos staff did a tremendous job to heighten the mood: manager and owner Vico Testoris appetiser selection was literally the bomb, while the table decorations, complete with fake gun perched menacingly in a pool of red gel, ensured that each diner knew their fate if they didnt clean their plates And if that wasnt convincing enough, a large life-size cut out of Tony presided over the evening.
A sugary coated aperitivo Cosa Nostra bellini was the welcome drink, enjoyed while guests mingled, showing off costumes and smoking fat cigars (and this was before dinner!) Rather like a sugar-coated pill, the aperitif was the sweetener before the serious business began.
A delicate yet flavour-filled swordfish carpaccio alla Sal-Moriglio adorned the plates for the first course. This dish in itself would be delicious, if rather innocuous, yet the addition of slivers of blood red oranges added a citrus tang as well as a bloody Sopranos tinge to the dish.
Ross Philips, Vice Echanson with the Chaine and Ian Dawson-James, the Chaines Bailli had gone to great lengths to choose Italian wines that would do justice to the strength of flavours in the evenings meal. For this first course they decided upon a Regaleali Tasca DAlmanta from 2005.
Ross states, We tried several wines with each of the courses to ensure we had the perfect pairing for each dish. This first wine we enjoyed its light, floral notes with good acidity. It was a clean and refreshing introduction to the rest of the wines and melded well with the first course.
Ramping up the flavour levels, next course was a linguini Bada Bing, with littleneck clams and bottarga. Black squid-ink pasta intermingling with white made a stark contrast on the plate and the flavours of the pasta and clams were nicely offset by the bottarga (cured fish roe). The salty infusion from this poor mans caviar lent a new dimension to the pasta dish.
To compliment the dish guests enjoyed a glass of Altavilla della Corte from 2006.
Ross says he and Ian loved this wine for its complexity and slightly salty edge, which matched extremely well with the flavours of the dish. He also notes herby accents of thyme, rosemary and sage.
Now that the tastebuds were in fourth gear it was time to take them up to fifth, with what was, for me at least, the most memorable dish of the evening, Sarde e Beccafico, di Paulie (stuffed fresh sardines with breadcrumbs, pine nuts and lemon juice).
Ian says, When we first contemplated this dish we thought that it might be a little too overpowering for diners, even though it was typical of the region. We decided to go ahead in the end and we were really pleased with the result.
Ross says it was a tough call to find a wine which would stand up to the intensity of the fish dish and eventually chose a Fiano di Avellino Feudi di St Gregorio (2006) made from 100% Fiano di Avellino.
Feudi di San Gregorio is Campanias premier winemaking estate and has made an important name for itself creating great wine with indigenous grapes such as Fiano di Avellino, Greco di Tufo and Aglianico.
Ross enjoyed this wine in particular for its complexity, its lingering finish and notes of peach, pear and honey.
Continuing on the Italian theme, guests were then served a baked pasta dish of orrechiette Bobby Baccala with eggplant (aubergine), rapini and fonduta di pecorino. Orrechiette are small round pasta (in Italian it means little ears lets hope Chef Steve Wagner didnt carry out the Sopranos theme too literally). This dish was effectively presented with a strong green, white and red Italian flag theme and a delight to eat.
Choosing another wine from Feudi di St Gregorio, Ross and Ian picked the Rubrato from 2004 to be enjoyed with the orrechiette.
Ross states, This is a dry, acidic wine which is extremely fruity and again complex. The wine went particularly well with the cheese sauce which accompanied the pasta and was quite a dominant flavour in the dish. Interestingly, we also detected an appley note when we tried the Rubrato with the food.
Finally the meal reached its crescendo, with a main course of braised wild boar shank alla Bucco with panizza (chickpea polenta). This was again an intense course and needed a serious heavy weight wine to pull off the pairing. A Rosso del Conte Tasca DAlmante from 2002 was perfectly up to the job, as Ross explains, This is an amazingly complex wine with so much going on. This typifies the reason why I am currently enjoying Italian wines so much, because they have so many nuances. There is always something interesting and new to find in them.
To round things off nicely, Chef Steve had created a divine chocolate hazelnut cake fugedabodit with candied orange peel and a baccio freddo. A Moscato di Noto from 2004 drew the meal to an end, its mango, apricot and pistachio notes fruitily complementing the richness of the cake in an unforgettable way.
You did good, boyz.

See Menu below:
"An Unfugedabodit Dinner "

Aperitivo Cosa Nostra ( aperol bellini )
Arancine di riso alla Vesuvio and mystery meatball

Swordfish carpaccio alla Sal - Moriglio
Regaleali Tasca DAlmarita 2005
xxx
Linguini Bada Bing , with littleneck clams and bottarga
Altavilla della Corte, Firriato 2006
xxx
Sarde a Beccafico, di Paulie
Staffed fresh sardines with breadcrumbs,
pine nuts and lemon juice
Fiano Di Avellino Feudi di St Gregorio 2006
xxx
Baked orrechiette Bobby Baccala with eggplant, rapini
and fonduta di pecorino
Rubratto Feudi di St Gregorio 2004
xxx
Braised wild boar shank alla Bucco
served with panizza (chickpea polenta)
Rosso Del Conte Tasca DAlmarita 2002
xxx
Chocolate hazelnut cake fugedabodit with
candied orange peel and bacio freddo
Moscato di noto 2004