If there one thing we can say with certainty, it is that Bryan Moscatello is an artist. 701 Restaurant’s new Executive Chef creates dishes so beautiful to look at you won’t want to eat them… Until you take the first bite that is. Then, you won’t be able to stop devouring everything in front of you.
This summer, Chef Bryan has taken over the 701 kitchen and introduced all kinds of delectable options. Let’s start with his salads: The carrot fricassee is a painter’s palate of color. Stunning roasted carrots, with dollops and swirls of carrot top pesto, fragrant hazelnuts and smoked kale is a whirlwind of texture and flavor. The greens salad sounds ordinary but the curly greens topped with colorful heirloom tomatoes and a delicate sphere of goat cheese is anything but ordinary. Either one is a great opener to your meal, as is the beet salad with apples and a thyme vinigrette.
Pasta is Chef Bryan’s greatest talent; knowing that I ordered the sunchoke stuffed tortelloni. These are the lightest, fluffiest tortelloni you will have. Seriously, they will pretty much melt in your mouth. There are lighter entrees, like a kale salad with poached artichokes, but seriously the pasta is the way to go. One note: the ravioli with tomatoes sounds vegetarian but apparently is not. Hopefully that will change in the future.
Since I went at lunchtime, I sampled the housemade scratch sodas which included lime, cucumber, and grapefruit-cardamom, all of which were super refreshing, but if you want an adult beverage there is full cocktail and wine menu available.
Dessert is always a must, especially at 701 because they are usually seasonal and always delicious. I went with the cherries and cream cheese, made with whole sweet cherries served with hunks of light, buttery chiffon cake and scoops of cream cheese ice cream. It is everything and more. You may think about sharing but don’t. It’s too good for sharing.
701 isn’t cheap, but its good. If you want to celebrate, feel fancy or just have some beautiful bites, go for it.
