oh, i still ♥ fabio, even if he ignored our table

so, even though i've been remiss in blogging about my love for top chef, it is no secret that i ♥ project runway and top chef. it is no stretch when i love to cook...and those two shows remind me of art school, that they are the perfect reality show equation. of course, i don't have a tv, so i have to hunt it down and find where it has been illegally posted on sites like youtube. tricky wicky, i know. well, last week we got to hang out with our friends jeff and jenny, who also love top chef. we happened to adore the top chef contestant fabio, much like most of america. (who can resist his pithy sound bites and swoony italian accent? not i.) jeff had tried to get us reservations at fabio's southern california restaurant, but they were booked for 8-10 weeks. jeff decided to email the restaurant in the hopes that fabio would read it and hook us up with a table. so guess who calls jeff! yes, fabio himself (or a really good impersonator, which is entirely possible & would be a brilliant business move...)! jeff had told fabio that we had had a difficult year, and that as parents of babies, we'd love a night out. suddenly we had a dinner reservation! we were soooo excited.the restaurant is in this random strip mall in moorpark, next to a baskin robbins. but there is a cute vespa parked outside, to transport you to florence. one vespa doesn't quite do the trick when you are staring at a large nondescript parking lot, but it's a nice touch. we waited for a while for our table, while all the moorpark singletons mingled and tossed their highlighted locks. it was pretty much the scene, apparently; at least if you counted all the single ladies showing off their manicured fingers, glossy lips, and come hither glances. 

finally we got to sit at our table...

we spotted fabio, 

and his lookalike (who works there too) once we got inside.

jeff & jenny, who are wholly responsible for us getting to eat at cafe firenze.

we started out with a super delish caprese salad. 

they put a slice of parmagiano in between the basil, mozarella, and tomato; 

unexpected and super good. 

we also had a kind of standard green salad with poached pears, 

carmelized walnuts, & blue cheese. 

lamb shank & gorgonzola gnocchi with sauteed mushrooms. 

the gnocchi were little pillows of love. 

they were perfection. oh my deliciousness.

 i dream of these now on a nightly basis.

jeff brought along some veeeeery nice bottles of vino.

yay for good food and good friends!

grilled sausages over mashed potatoes and sauteed veggies. jenny picked this yummy number.

behold the power of the best ravioli i have ever experienced in my life.

butternut squash & ricotta ravioli in a sage & cream sauce. 

seriously, i would drive to moorpark just for these - 

they were sweet, savory, amazing.

for all of you meat lovers, a close-up of the lamb shank situation. 

(sporting a limb of rosemary as garnish)

this was my least favorite of the evening; 

it was ok, but not quite as epic as the other entrees: 

pasta with pancetta & some sort of sauteed greens. 

eh, i was happy with the ravioli and gnocchi, but this was just so-so.

so, we caught glimpses of fabio schmoozing it up at other tables, 

but by the time we were done eating and wanting to say hello, 

he had supposedly headed home for the night. 

oh well, we had fun chatting with each other.

a toast to friends, and to discovering new restaurants thanks to reality tv.

how do you top such a great meal?

not with baskin robbins (although it was our initial plan)...

you sing old hits from the 90's at the top of your lungs all the way home. 

it was just that perfect.

ps. fabio, you missed out!