It's been a moment, a long ass moment since Sporty and I hung out, long long long ...you get the picture. But we got together and spun it on over to a relatively new spot in Midtown, a little Italian eatery called Allegro. It's up in the cut behind the already hidden One Midtown Kitchen and I had to ask the valet from there where this place was. It was new to us, and Sporty likes new, and she used to like Italian (I don't know anymore, we're out of sync) so we went there.
It's a nice spot, dark with a peppy jazz playing and the obligatory all black dressed servers. The decor is upscale modern as so many places are, with a small bar in front, the kitchen offset behind it and tables disappearing around the corner in this little L-shaped space. We got one of those half booths in the back settled in. I'd read that they had a great view of Piedmont park...but it's on the opposite side of the street from OMK and that abuts the park so the view from here is really of some trees around the corner of a building, so that was blah.
Sporty has a new concept. She now apologizes, which is new for her.
The waiter, whose name I didn't get and I feel bad for it, was a burst of energy. After the complementary aperitif, he gave us the grand rundown which belied the staid nature of the place. Usually you only get that much energy from a server at one of Atlanta's eclectic eateries, but here he was. We got the Ravolini (beef in fresh made ravioli) for an appetizer, she got the spaghetti with peppers and ground sausage and I got the beef short ribs. Despite her adventurous nature, I couldn't talk her into the rabbit meatballs instead of the pork.
It's been a while, as I said, and we caught up, and for the entire meal (except to eat) I don't think we paused for more than few seconds. It felt good. Sporty looked magical. And no, I haven't a drink yet.
Then the first mis-step. Her spaghetti came without the pork. My short ribs were fork tender, but service is service. The speed with which they replaced it made me think that somewhere else in the restaurant (which was sparse when we got there but filled up nicely) would be waiting for their dinner just a touch longer. The manager came out and apologized personally (that's how you know it's a quality place) and comped us a cheesecake dessert, which Sporty loves.
Only she didn't like this one, she likes it straight NY style or with cherry. This one was infused with a coffee of some sort, so I ended up eating the bulk of it. We talked dreams, plans, politics and we didn't even allude to our new arrangement until the very end when I asked about the weekend, so that would have been my mistake.
In all Allegro was a good shot. The food was fresh, the waiters attentive and quick, and the price was actually not bad. It seems like once it fills up it would be a little noisy, but if you wanted quiet you'd eat at home. I may go back someday, if only see if I can find that damned view.
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