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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Tuesday, 1/26/10 - Lorenzo's

Date: 1/26/10
Restaurant: Lorenzo's
Location: 8032 Fredericksburg, in a strip mall in the Medical center
Hours: Lunch M-F 11am-4pm, Dinner M-Sat 4pm-10pm
Executive Chef: "Rick." Yeah, you'd think it'd be Lorenzo, but nope. Rick.

Amidst the many chain Italian restaurants in San Antonio, Lorenzo's is one of the few stand-out solo eateries. It reminded me a lot of when I waitressed at Toto's, this hole-in-the-wall Italian joint at OU. Unless you were "in the know," you'd pass it without a second look down your snooty nose. Once you were in the door, boy howdy did you eat well. That was Lorenzo's for us last night.


I remembered to snap the action shot this time!


Oh yeah. Smell the authenticity. It smells like marinara, which is a smell my smeller can stand to smell often.


Even the decor says "really. Stay. Order something. You'll be really happy you did."

The menu covered the standards. Pasta, pizza, meatsa, and fish. They also had a wine list with one or two bottle options per variety of wine available by glass or bottle, which we declined after last week's margaritafest. While we deliberated, in came round one of the Unlimited Bowl of Garlic Toast.



Great toasty bread with just enough garlic butter to snap. This stuff sopped up all the goodies. Nice little drizzly oil with red and black pepper and dried oregano and parsley.


We started with cheese bread. Oh such cheesy cheese bread. Look at that goodness right there. I had to sample the marinara on its own as well and it was made with love. Could've been pulled right out of my Food Bible's section on making classic mother sauces. Good sign that it was made in house: I pulled a bay leaf out of it. Tisk tisk, Rick!


My entree: veal parmigiano. It was crispy on the outside, chewy and sweet on the inside, and drenched in more molten cheese and marinara. Great eats.


Tavis went with "the best lasagna in town." Weeeeeell I dunno about all that; however, as my lasagna is not yet commercially available, I will grant that Lorenzo's was darn good. Full of spicy Italian sausage, mushrooms, and packed to the brim with ricotta and sauce.


Oh wait, how'd that get in here?

I was pleasantly stuffed by this time, but Tavis had a sweet tooth that needed satisfying, so we ordered the strawberry cheesecake. Alas, our waiter reported a few minutes later, there were no strawberries to be had. However, he whipped out from behind his back this luscious creation of lemon and whipped cream, and I was sold. It's like someone bringing a puppy to your table. How can you say no to a puppy?


I said yes to the puppy. I mean, look at this! They even lit it on fire for me! And I will unequivocally say that this is the best lemon pie I have ever eaten. It was frothy, tangy, sweet, with little shavings of candied lemon zest as well as the flaming sugar rock garnish. I'd eat this pie every day. They don't always have it available though, so be sure to nom while the nomming's good. (It was very good.)

(We also left the waiter a hefty tip for his excellent salesmanship. Hey, got to reward talent when you see it!)

Returnability: high. This is definitely an Italian diamond in the rough, well worth a pass over Olive Garden or other big name places. It's much more convenient than a trip downtown, the staff was small, close-knit and friendly, and the quality of the food was excellent. A bella notte indeed!

2 comments:

Rosie Posie said...

We'll have to go back there this summer! Sounds fabulous.

Megan and Tavis said...

Rosie - it would be our pleasure to take you here! Though we might have to make a "best of" list, there's so many awesome eats we've had and are still looking forward to.