Saturday, May 26, 2012

Basking Ridge NJ Restaurants

Ciao Restaurant
When I went to corporate I initially got the impression there were no really good restaurants there.  I was wrong I found 3 and one of them is  sister restaurant to one of my favorites Michael White's  Osteria Morini.  The other 2 are Ciao and 3 West.  Osteria Morin is my favorite Italian restaurant because all the food is delicious the menu is the same as the one on Lafayette in Manhattan.  I am not going to repeat my previous reviews the only difference is that the one Bernardsville is more modern and open.


Ciao Seafood Bisque
Ciao is right next to my hotel and is a a great Italian restaurant.  I went in on Mothers day and sat at the Bar it was one of those days where my eyes were bigger than my capacity so I started out with a great Seafood Bisque every part of it was tasty and I am sure that I calculated the calories wrong.  I followed that up with the Meatballs which I try at every restaurant to compare them to the benchmark Osteria Morini Balls.  These Sicilian meatballs were made of beef pignoli raisins, pecorino very tasty texture with a sauce that had an explosion of fresh tomato.  I followed it up with my favorite Italian Meat Dish Osso Buco.  Ciao's Osso Buco was settled in a light broth with Gigante  beans broccoli ran in cherry pepper gremolata very tasty moist it seems too healthy.
Ciao Balls not the Schweddy Type

Awesome Osso Buco
3 West is part of the same management team as Ciao.  3 West is more of an American Food Restaurant. We started with the Pork Belly Dumplings I had the Carrot and Ginger Soup which was delicious and followed it up with the swordfish which was cooked perfectly.  Mark had the Scallops which were cooked to perfection.  Both 3 West and Ciao are very good.