Today’s Taste Buds Talk brings us to Annette Scratch to Table. An amazing restaurant in Aurora, Colorado serving a small plate style eating experience. The variety of their menu will leave your taste buds wanting more! Dave and Stacey joined us once again on this culinary adventure. Keep on reading to learn more about Annette Scratch to Table!
I loved the wall of wood the minute I stepped through the front door. I guess in a world that is so busy, the wood grounded me and put me at ease for a relaxing evening. The softened lighting also helped set the mood. Pleasant environment for sure!
Now on to the menu! Since it is a Small Plates style restaurant, we decided to get many small plates and share to provide us with a bigger dining experience. Here’s what we picked:
- Honeycrisp Apple and Parsley Salad
- Gnocchi
- Pork Tonnato
- Octopus Patatas Bravas
- Sunchoke Gratin
- Roasted Whole Fish
- Wood-Fired Half Chicken
This salad had amazing flavors so light, yet bold with Jasper Hill Cheddar cheese, pecans, and kohlrabi.
Gnocchi
The Gnocchi hit the spot, served with cippollinis(onions), and some roasted butternut squash. This dish melted in your mouth as soon as the spoon touched your taste buds! The gnocchi was soft and exploded with flavor. One of my favorite dishes at Annette’s for sure!
This dish typically is served with shitake mushrooms, but since I am allergic to mushrooms we were able to have ours prepared without them. They were very responsive to dietary concerns/needs. It was refreshing to have such care taken with our personal needs, like we were sitting in their home instead of their place of business.
The Pork Tonnato is a brilliant blend of very thinly sliced pork, tuna, raddishes, capers, and parsley. The taste buds were zinging with this combination. Pairing the tuna with the pork was the perfect way to compliment the sometimes boring pork entree. The saltiness of the capers, crunch of the raddish and freshness of the parsley made this dish the perfect concerto!
The Octopus Patatas Bravas was figuratively and literally a mouthful! Joe and I have had octopus before and weren’t very impressed. But with Dave and Stacey’s suggestion we tried it again. We ALL gave it a thumbs up! It was mixed with Yukon Gold potatoes and a hearty Romesco Garlic sauce that tied the plate together very nicely. The fresh chive garnish added a brightness that really complimented the small plate. Sometimes something as simple as some greenery on top is all you need to really finish a plate.
Something about having the “whole” fish in front of you can be intimidating. However, when you focus on the flavors…nothing else matters. This was without a doubt the BEST fish I have ever eaten! It was cooked perfectly…the meat was so soft and flaky. The adobo vinegarette and olive tapenade partnered with the delicate texture of the fish so naturally. I would order this again and again and again!
The Sunchoke Gratin was hard to photograph, but I thought it very tasty! As the name implies it was a typical gratin dish with layers of sunchokes, raclette, lemon, and thyme. Some of you may be wondering, exactly what is a sunchoke? Well, it is kind of like a potato with artichoke flavors…very tasty indeed! Pairing it with raclette cheese…oooh my! This Alpine Dairy Cow cheese is in the Swiss family of cheeses and melts beautifully. It added the perfect nutty flavor to this gratin dish.
The Wood-Fired Half Chicken had beautiful color on the outside and delicious juicy meat on the inside! Served on a bed of Escarole with a garlic Sherry Vinegarette, this would give your momma’s Sunday Chicken a run for its money!
Our small plate experience was anything but small. We enjoyed a wonderful evening, al beit a bit of a drive, but it was worth it! Some times the same ole restaurant just won’t do and you need to branch out a bit. If you’re in the Denver Metro area, you should branch out to Annette’s Scratch to Table. I’m confident you’ll be glad you did!