Carsonie's in Upper Arlington

Tony and I went to Carsonie's in Upper Arlington for the first time last night. The high point of the meal was the pizza that we split as an appetizer. The dough was fresh and thick, but not too thick. The cheese and toppings were good quality and plentiful enough. We will definitely go back for the pizza.

The pasta dishes that we ordered were just meh. Not bad but not great. I am a stickler for al dente pasta and was disappointed that my penne was over cooked. The sauce was good - roasted red peppers, spinach, mushrooms, and a light cream sauce. Tony had Chicken Carsonie, which is actually just chicken Parmesan. I cannot recall one single time that Tony as dined at an Italian restaurant and not ordered chicken Parmesan. I think that pigs would fly, hell would freeze over, and the Earth would stop turning if Tony ever ordered anything but chicken Parmesan at an Italian restaurant.

Other notes: Carsonie's has Peroni beer on draft. They score extra points for this. The stromboli here looked amazing. I will definitely go back to try it.

Best intentions

This meal had the potential to be really good. This is breaded and sauteed chicken breast topped with a homemade sauce of basil and cherry tomatoes with fresh mozzarella on top. Despite sauteing the chicken for several minutes on each side and then baking it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, it still came out under cooked. No big deal really, I put it back in the oven and cooked it for a while longer. Problem was that even though I knew it was thoroughly cooked at that point, I still couldn't get them image of raw chicken out of my head and was convinced that I would get food poisoning. Next time I'll butterfly the chicken first. The wilted spinach with garlic was really tasty.

9th Anniverary Dinner - 05.30.2009

Tony and I went out to dinner on Saturday to celebrate 9 years of wedded bliss. Funny, it doesn't feel like we've been married for 9 years... It feels more like 20... (I kid, I kid!)

We couldn't decide where to go but we wanted to sit outside and eat. We drove around the Short North area for a while and decided to try Marcella's.




We were seated pretty quickly and got a great table right by the sidewalk - perfect for people watching!

The ambiance at Marcella's was great and the food was good. The only downside was our douchebag waiter. I can understand that the place was packed and they may have been short staffed, but that doesn't excuse his shitty attitude.




We started off with a cheese and meat plate. I would love to describe the dipping sauces that came with the cheeses but I can't because our asshat waiter dumped the plate on our table and scurried off before telling us what they were.




About 10 hours after we sat down, and long after the cheese plate arrived, we finally got our wine.




No matter what Italian restaurant we go to, Tony always orders a Caesar salad and chicken parmesan. He will not stray from this standard order. I swear that if we ever travel to Italy that he will order chicken parm everywhere we go. I should also mention that Tony's Caesar salad had 4 white anchovies on top. Upon seeing the little fishes, Tony immediately pushed his plate towards me and ask that I remove them and place them out of his eyesite.




I couldn't decide what to get and wasn't too excited about anything on the menu, so I got the daily special. It was a saffron risotto with shrimp, sausage, and vegetables. Risotto is pretty easy to screw up and if it's not served very fresh and streaming hot, it's ruined. I pleasantly surprised by how well prepared this dish was.