An Exquisite Hotel Restaurant Experience at Rialto

I am usually not a fan of hotel restaurants just because the atmosphere tends to be touristy, but I really enjoyed my last dining experience at Rialto that I decided to check it out again.

Rialto has received quite a lot of recognition for its food. After being seated, we were served a basket full of different types of bread and rolls, including cheese & garlic sticks, focaccia lightly rubbed in herb and oil, sour dough baguette, and hearty craisin-filled dinner roll. 

Rialto's menu changes frequently by season because the restaurant's philosophy is serve food made with ingredients that are fresh at the time. This is a Rialto's take on charcuterie "plate" with parma prosciutto, fig, walnut pecorino bread, and a dollop of ricotta with olive oil.

The arugula pear salad had a spoonful of pomegranate seeds and crumbled bleu cheese. I love the bitter green taste of the arugula and the crunchiness of the pomegranate, but personally not a big fan of blue cheese (...or any cheese for that matter) because it stinks!

The Fisherman's Soup, which has rouille base (a sauce made of olive oil with breadcrumbs, garlic, saffron, and chili peppers) as well as Gruyere and basil oil. I didn't try it, but the person who ordered it only took a couple bites and that was it.

I decided to be adventurous and order something I have never had before: Crispy Sweetbreads. The name is definitely a misnomer because there is nothing "doughy" about sweetbreads. In fact, sweetbreads are the fatty pancreas of a calf. The fried sweetbreads were placed atop creamy parmesan risotto with raisins and pine nuts with sweet currants sauce at the bottom.

Had I not been concerned about my weight, I probably could have eaten this dish every single day. The arborio rice in the risotto was cooked perfectly--not too coarse or mushy--and the sweetness from the currant balanced the creamy risotto perfectly.

The highlight of the dish was definitely the sweetbreads. These glands were juicy in the inside, crispy on the outside. Whereas the meat of the fried chicken, for example, can sometimes taste a bit bland, the sweetbreads had so much flavor and texture.

The special of the day was the corn meal pasta with lamb. While I expected the dish to contain a rack of lamb on the side, the meat was actually chopped into pieces in the sauce.

The Whole Roasted Fish of the day was branzino, stuffed with wilted greens, local mushrooms, house-smoked bacon in mustard. I can never rack up enough courage to order a whole fish...how can you eat the poor thing when it's staring at you like that???

The next entree, Vermentino Chicken, had a HUGE serving! The dish had roasted breast and crispy confit thigh with pickled cherries and artichokes. They really should have a "warning sign" indicating that this dish can serve two people (especially since most people at Rialto enjoy a full 3- or 4-course meal)

For my main course, I decided to indulge myself with Colorado Lamb Two Ways. The entree had two racks of chestnut crusted lamb chops and apricot & rosemary stuffed leg with chanerelle mushrooms on the side. For someone who loves red meat, I asked for it to be cooked rare, of course.

I personally preferred the leg meat rather than the chop because it had more meat and less fat. I like steak when it's cooked rare, but next time I get lamb, perhaps I should ask for medium rare because it was a bit too red for my liking.

Underneath the lambs were medley of vegetables. Again, you can see how red the lamb chops are. Also the chops near the bones were very difficult to eat.

After a quite heavy meal of sweetbreads and lamb, we moved on to dessert. Given the fall season, a lot of selection had autumn favorites like apples and pumpkin. The Fried Apple Slices came with dulce de leche with spiced butternut squash gelato, cider sauce, and walnuts. Because I am not a fan of fried stuff, I didn't try this. Why would you ruin a perfectly delicious apples by frying them? Yikes.

I decided to opt for the "lightest" sounding entree--Saffron Pineapple Meringue with ginger ice cream and saffron gele. The freeze-dried pineapple was very sweet and crispy, while the meringue was light and airy. Given my love for butternut squash, I substituted the ginger ice cream for the squash gelato. It was a great decision indeed :)

This is the dessert I would have chosen if I could order it again. Visually, the Pistachio Pumpkin Semifreddo had an interesting shape. Inside the toasted meringue were pistachio cream and cake. The dish also came with spiced pumpkin shooter on the side (pictured above the plate).