Page 42 of Roberto

As we followed him through the restaurant, Mei-ling whispered, “You speaking Italian doesn’t qualify as the most interesting experience I’ve ever had.”

“Just wait.”

The maître d’led us past the various tables and straight to the kitchen.

Mei-ling looked confused. “Aren’t we going to – ”

“No,” I said with a smile.

We entered the kitchen, where uniformed chefs hunched over their stations preparing various dishes.

“Chef Silvestri,” the maître d’said.

A man wearing a pristine white uniform burst into a smile.

“You came!” he said in Italian.

“I did,” I answered in Italian. “Thank you so much for this – I truly appreciate it.”

“And this is the beautiful lady you mentioned?”

“She is, indeed.”

“Lucky devil,” he said enviously.

“Hopefully withyourhelp, I will be.”

He laughed and then bowed slightly to Mei-ling.

“I am Andre Silvestri, head chef and owner,” he said in English. “Welcome to La Giaconda.”

“Thank you.”

“Please – if you will,” he said, motioning behind us.

Two waiters brought tall chairs for us and placed them at the corner of the kitchen island – far enough to be out of the way of the cooks but still in the thick of the action.

“Oh!” Mei-ling said in surprise.

I held her chair for her as she sat, then took the other seat.

Silvestri placed two crystal glasses in front of us and poured a tiny bit of red wine into each. “This is a Barbera del Sannio from Campania. It perfectly complements our first dish of the evening.”

From there, we were off to the races.

A flurry of delights came to us immediately after being plated:

Whipped burrata – a type of light cheese – with garden-fresh beets and strawberries.

Lobster risotto – a creamy rice dish with mascarpone, truffles, and chunks of melt-in-your-mouth lobster.

Coniglio brasato – a tender rabbit steak served on a bed of polenta.

Each dish was paired with unusual wines from all over Italy: Sardinia, Sicily, Umbria.

At one point, Chef Silvestri even took us to a table in the back where we made our own pasta.

After slipping on full-body aprons to protect our clothes, we started with small mounds of freshly milled flour…

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