Last night we had dinner at Carisma, using a gift card that had given to us as a Christmas gift. We arrived to find it nearly empty — I guess everyone was avoiding downtown because of the World Cup?

Anyway, here’s what we had:

• Cocktails
  • Negroni
  • glass of Falanghina
• Appetizers (shared)
  • Warm wild mushroom salad w/ organic greens, warm goat cheese, balsamic vinaigrette
  • Scallops w/ more wild mushrooms
• Pasta & mains (shared)
  • Spaghettini w/ black tiger shrimp, brandy tomato cream
  • Mediterranean sea bass w/lemon, extra virgin olive oil
    • bottle of 2020 Chardonnay Umbria Cervaro della Sala Antinori
• Dessert
  • Molten chocolate cake
    • glasses of 2015 Recioto Della Valpolicella Domini Veneti

Normally dessert would be a compromise on something not quite so chocolate-y, but I got to choose because Lindsay accidentally fired sauce all over my shirt when she dismantled a shrimp.