La Riserva, Hendersonville, NC

I was beginning to think I would be retired before the much anticipated (at least in our household) La Riserva (www.lariservaristorante.com) was unveiled. Fat Kat and I had always loved Sparacino's, where chef David Sparacino produced amazing Italian food. Before a few other restaurants came to town, and before the original Sparacino's closed, it was our favorite restaurant. So, when we heard he was opening a new restaurant, La Riserva, in a more visible location right on Main St, Fat Kat and I couldn't wait to try it. Unfortunately, as with many new projects, there were construction delays and other road blocks that pushed back their opening. It was over two years ago that I started the vigil. Finally, a few weeks ago, La Riserva opened and wow was it worth the wait!

As of when Fat Kat and I went (10/19), La Riserva was only open for dinner. They also plan to open for lunch at some point down the road. We decided to make reservations and although it seemed there were minimal time choices left when I called, it wasn't mobbed when we got there. I can only assume they leave several tables open for walk-ins. By the time we left, nearly every table was filled. The restaurant is quite sizable (much bigger than Sparacino's) with both an upstairs and downstairs. It is a warm and comfortable environment that is clearly upscale, yet very inviting. I didn't spend much time upstairs (just went up for a peek) but there is a nice bar area upstairs and a lot more tables. The second floor is loft-like surrounding the opening down to the Irongate shopping area. The tables along the front wall upstairs are by windows overlooking Main Street, which is nice for people watching. When you first walk in, there is a beautiful tiled/stone area with a large inset image of a wine glass filled with red wine - naturally apro pos for a wine bar/restaurant and is their logo.

We were seated right away at a table for two. That was one of the only drawbacks we encountered. The small table barely had enough room for what was already on it, let alone extra plates. When we perused the appetizers, we chose the four plate tasting ($15). It came out on four large rectangular plates, which we clearly had no room for! But, without asking, they quickly pulled over a neighboring table and, voila!, plenty of room for everything. We thought it was great that we didn't even have to ask them to do that. They saw a problem and fixed it immediately. There were several enticing appetizers, but as mentioned, we went for the suite of four tastings. We chose the cheeses, Italian meats, cured meats, and olives. They were beautifully presented (albeit space consuming!) and delicious.

Choosing an entree was a bit more difficult. We know whatever comes out of Chef David's kitchen is going to be amazing. Do we go with a regular menu item (theoretically still there next time)? Or do we choose a nightly special (a one time deal)? I'm a sucker for pasta. Truly, I could eat it every night. But, I wanted to be a bit more adventurous this time. I finally decided on the Red Snapper special. It came with an apple cider sauce, some vegetables, and a parmesan risotto. Fat Kat opted for gnocchi, one of his Italian favorites. This gnocchi is a little different in that it comes with a classic bolognese sauce instead of a white sauce. When our dishes came out and we had that first bite, both of us were making all sorts of yummy noises bordering on inappropriate! My snapper was fabulous. And it wasn't just the fish - it was the whole thing - a heavenly mixture of flavors and textures. The risotto was incredible - creamy and flavorful. The gnocchi came out in a huge white bowl - seriously, you could have flipped it over and worn it as a sombrero. He's still talking about the gnocchi! He ate half and saved half to take home. I did the same.

Since we saved part of our meal, we had room for dessert (Sweet Tooth has to have her dessert!). There were about four or five choices. We got a half of pumpkin cheesecake and the chocolate cake with espresso mousse filling. Both sounded delicious. The pumpkin cheesecake was excellent. We really could have split it, but in the interest of research (eh-hem) we had to get two desserts. :) Unfortunately, the cake fell short. One of my pet peeves of desserts is a dry cake and this one was. I like a rich, moist cake and am rarely satisfied. The flavor was really good, but it literally crumbled when I cut into it. I swear I ought to buy cakes by weight - if it's heavy, it's mine! When the server asked about the desserts, I was honest. I said while the pumpkin cheesecake was great, the cake was not. I wasn't looking for any credit on our bill or substitute dessert, I just thought he would want to know. If it was my restaurant, I would want to know. They can't possibly keep trying everything on their menu, so if they don't get feedback, they'll never know if they need to make changes. To be fair, I suspect the cake was excellent when it was first made. It may have been a couple of days old and perhaps was uncovered in the cooler. To their credit, about three minutes after I made the comment about the cake, out popped a trio of gelatos, on the house, from the chef as an apology for the dry cake! We were REALLY full, but were not going to turn down an opportunity for a gelato tasting! The three flavors were pistachio, apple spice, and butter pecan. They were all good and very creamy, with the butter pecan being my favorite (and that's saying something because I don't like nuts!).

So, overall, La Riserva was an overwhelming hit and most definitely worth the wait for it to open! You might think I would knock off a half-fork for the dry cake, but because they went out of their way (without asking) to make sure we were happy, I gave them a full five forks. Service was attentive, but not intrusive and the food came out within a reasonable time frame. The prices are on par with other restaurants of that caliber. And the food was downright amazing. Of course, we didn't expect anything less from David, and we were not disappointed! Their menus are posted on the website as well as other information about the restaurant.