OTE: Il Sogno, Calgary

You may have driven by this restaurant dozens of times in the past 11 years and not noticed it until about 2 months ago, only to be told it has been in operation for 13 years. Okay, yes, this is my story. Being a food lover, especially of Italian, you would think I had taken notice of Il Sogno years ago. Apparently, some things still get past me.

For our (Bryan and me) 4th anniversary I chose Il Sogno for 3 reasons: it is Italian, I got 1000 Open Table points by using their reservation system, and I had a $60 Groupon to use. Score!

We were greeted by a friendly, talkative server as soon as we walked through the door. Our table was ready, situated right by a window with the heat of the summer sun streaming in. 6:00 must not be a popular dinner time as there was only one other occupied table. However, when we left at 7:30 there were only 3 other tables with people. It looked and sounded like everyone was having a wonderful dining experience anyway.

Our waiter explained the features to us, indicating the freshness of every dish. He was responsive and attentive (though he did dump some ice water on my leg and chair). It appears that he loves his job which makes for a great experience for us too.

The Wine: Il Sogno, as it should, has a fairly extensive wine list, with half bring from Italy. I appreciate the obscure, unknown Italian wine list because it allows me to try something different that I probably wouldn't otherwise know existed. We ordered a bottle of the Ripassa DOC Zenato. It was described as a Merlot but I would say it was lighter and smoother, more like a Malbec. It was superb, went down beautifully and had an aromatic bouquet.

The Food: Okay, first off, yes, we ate a lot last night but it was a special occasion so I do not regret a single bite!

Our Antipasti Plate arrived along with some fresh out of the oven bread accompanied by olive oil and thyme butter. The Plate was $14.95 and contained two condiments (fig and peach concoctions), duck pâté, Italian prosciutto, crusty bread, olives and a small caprese salad. The duck was too strong for us but the rest was awesome, especially the condiments.

 

For our main courses, Bryan opted for the Fussili ($13.95) and the side salad ($8.95). He thoroughly enjoyed his pasta, which was obviously freshly made while he laughed at how much lettuce was in the salad. The leaves were almost black but he claimed it was still tasty!

 

 

My radicchio salad had the most wonderful peach and truffle dressing! There was an amazingly sweet yet savoury flavour that still couldn't quite mask the radicchio taste but I still enjoyed it. It would have been awesome on spinach.

For my main, I chose their Ricotta Gnocchi. I love gnocchi and, since I haven't quite mastered how to make it, I try it almost any chance I get now. This gnocchi dish was creamy and the pasta tasted so very homemade - awesome! With more truffle essence, it had a slight earthy flavour that complimented nicely with the mushrooms and watercress. Very impressive!

 

We opted out of any dessert at this point though I hear their carrot cake is scrumptious!! Overall, a successful Open Table Experiment!

 

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