One of my favorite local restaurants is One53.
In addition to their wonderful selection of Scotch Whisky, they also feature local and organic ingredients in their menus, which change seasonally. Even though the menu is not very big, I always struggle to decide what to eat because everything sounds so tasty. In my opinion, One53 serves the best burger around, but that is for another day.
On several occasions, my dad have dined at One53 when my mom and Christine have been out of town for our special DD Dinners. I was very excited to try some of the items on the summer menu. For my first course, I ordered the Watermelon and Tomato Salad with Ricotta Salata.
This was a wonderfully refreshing salad. The tomatoes and watermelon were both cut in similar sized cubes so in the dim lighting you could certainly mistake one for the other. The salad was garnished with basil leaves and sliced mint, and the herbs really added another fragrant dimension to the sweet acidity of the dish. The ricotta salata was perfect to give the salad some saltiness and really round out every bite. This was a prefect summer salad that I would love to try to recreate at home.
For my entree, I ordered the Grilled Octopus with Crispy Potatoes and Roasted Peppers.
I am always a fan of calamari, but there is something special about purely grilled octopus compared to small pieces of battered squid. The char on this meaty tentacle was perfect. The texture was also just right – chewy but still soft and tender. The roasted peppers added a great acidity without overpowering the octopus. The presentation of the potatoes certainly surprised me, but I was not disappointed in the slightest. They were petite cubes of potatoes that had a crispy edge on each side. I liked that they were elegant and demonstrated creativity. In my opinion they also enhance the visual experience of the dish by combining very geometric shapes with the undulating curve of the octopus. Very interesting and delicious!
Fun fact: did you know that Ursula in The Little Mermaid is actually a squid not an octopus – she only has 6 tentacles, which was less expensive to draw than 8.