Il Buco Alimentari e Veneria

Beautiful Cured Meats

Il Buco is a Restaurant, Wine Bar and Market specializing in old world Italian food and drink.  David and I had a reservation and as luck would have it we got the two seater at the kitchen counter.  I do not think it was originally designed as a counter to eat at but we certainly enjoyed the location.  The team of chefs that is at Il Buco are definitely some of the best at their craft.  One area that Il Buco has focused on is their cured meat program.  I am a huge fan of cured meats so even though a little bit of a meal spoiler I could not resist the meat and cheese plate combined with their awesome bread and olive oil.  The problem with ordering this is that it tends to fill you up and in this case there were a lot more tastes to come.

Quail

Mushrooms

Fortunately we ordered several small dishes that could be shared.  Our first dish was t\mushrooms that were sauteed in olive oil and garlic and served with Reggiano and alfalfa sprouts.  There were an assortment of mushrooms with different textures combined with the sharpness of the cheese and the tiny crunch of the sprouts the dish overall was very satisfying and unique.  Next compliments of the chef we had braised Quail quarters, cooked to perfection, moist savory and seasoned perfectly, a very nice holiday gift.

Bucatini

Paccheri

Now a little bit stuffed with two more small plates on the way it was time to buckle down and get the pallet ready for Bucatini Cacio e Pepe which is a thick spaghetti like noodle with a hole in the middle with Pecorino Romana and Black Pepper.  The pasta was cooked perfectly there was  heat from the black pepper and creaminess from the Sheep's Milk Cheese which made this a tasty dish.  Our last dish was a Veal Ragu with cherry tomatoes the Veal Sugo was cooked to perfection and left that nice rich coating on your tongue that lasted for hours.
Il Buco produces well made high quality Italian food, combined with helpfulness and passion from our Server Eric the evening was memorable and a good recommendation for great Italian Food!!