Sunday, January 31, 2016

Khoi's Birthday Part 1: Z Cucina

Khoi finally turned 26! I'm 1.5 months older than him, and if anyone asks how old we are between our birthdays, it makes me a little anxious...but he finally joined me in old age and we are the same age again! 26 is a big deal because we are officially in our late 20's now (*cries*).

I've been eyeing a couple of restaurants that I wanted to treat him out to, and I finally decided on Z Cucina because 1) he loves Italian food, and 2) this restaurant is ranked #1 in Columbus on TripAdvisor, meaning that people from all over the US must think that this restaurant has some of the best Italian food. Hence, reservations made. 

What a beautiful place. And I don't know what's up with that smouldering expression, but I like it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Our dranks -- nero pompelmo (left) and spiced pear fizz (right). Both were extremely refreshing. 

Handmade Italian salumi -- this was incredible. They had proscuitto and duck, and some amazing pickled veggies (which I usually don't like). Even the olives were good, and I usually hate olives. 

Baked ricotta gnocchi - this was a vegetarian dish. I ordered it even though I'm essentially a carnivore because the waitress promised me that it's delicious and it was indeed. It's just so savory and the flavors were great. Also, the waitress said that the gnocchi is huge, but I just thought she meant bigger than usual -- turned out that the dish is one enormous gnocchi the size of my palm lol. I don't know why this was so funny to me but I kept laughing while eating it.

Lasagna - Khoi's dish. This was probably the best lasagna I've ever eaten everywhere. It's just so intensely rich, with mascarpone cheese, and I love how it came in an individual cast iron dish. So pretty and so tasty. 

Our dessert sampler to share -- peanut butter cheesecake, caramel pots de creme, and tiramisu. This was great but so intensely rich, and we were already so stuffed at this point that we could only polish off half of each item. Sadness :(

So stuffed and happy after our meal huzzah! The couple next to us offered to take our photo, so nice of them. I loved this restaurant -- everyone from the valet, the hostess, the waitress, and even the other patrons were so warm and sweet, and the restaurant itself is gorgeous. 

1368 Grandview Ave
Columbus, OH 43212
(614) 486-9200

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