Mangia

for those unaware, 'mangia' means swedish massage parlor in Yiddish. kidding. just seeing if you're paying attention.
the first course of the night was hilarity (even for the waitress). dave sanchez took one for the team and joined us despite feeling a bit under the weather. however his illness quickly vanished at the dinner table as the conversation became unabashedly playful.

the table ordered stuffed peppers (better than average), their eggplant neapolitan (awesome - it had a balsamic glaze) and a cheese-stuffed cannelloni maybe? (good). no one seemed to be that interested in the eggplant or maybe I just hoarded it so no one else could get a bite of it but either way, if you like breaded eggplant and mozzarella that has certain type of glaze that I love - I would highly recommend it.
the smaller table allowed for a greater sampling of each other's plates. I ordered the veal francaise. I'm not a big veal guy and last night's entrée didn't do anything to make me one. breaded veal over fettuccini alfredo, that's it. I tried the veal saltimbocca which was better than my dish but still average. I also sampled the chicken florentine (mistakenly chicken as veal was ordered) which was only average at best. I had another pasta dish that I have little recollection about and finally come to their seafood and sea bass fra diavlo special. the fra diavlo was their best dish - although I thought sea bass seemed a bit odd for spicy marinara it worked well although I thought it could have been served with more sauce.
the table ended the night with their crème brule and tiramisu. both desserts were excellent but small portioned. the tiramisu was loaded with liquor which might explain why most of the table was hammered by the time we got to the bar or maybe it was the six (6) bottles of wine the table quaffed down. you heard me right, six. for five people (read two). and one guy was feeling ill.

for those who attended, please feel free to contribute your perspective on the blog: http://wnydining.blogspot.com/
i'm throwing out a B- for Mangia (maybe it should be lower except for the fact the Yankees are world champions and the absolute blast of an evening)