Villa Ristorante Rubinacci, Sorrento, Italy

Does the name of this restaurant sound like it might translate to "House of the Fat Girl"?  Maybe it's just my imagination (or my tight pants) whispering in my ear. Either way, this hotel restaurant (virtually empty with tourist season over) turned out to be one of our favorite dining experiences of Amalfi Coast week.  Elegantly and sleekly decorated in coral and cream tones, the only negative distraction came from the relentlessly (and unanswered) ringing of a staff member's cell phone. Please...not okay in an eatery of this caliber.  However, I'm going to graciously pretend it never happened going forward because every other aspect of this dining experience was so awesome.

First off, we enjoyed meeting our delightfully (seemingly) curmudgeonly yet uber-efficient and professional server. He was amazing and helped us along in spite of his minimal knowledge of English and our even less knowledge of Italian.  He reminded me a little of the buttoned-up Mr. French from the 1960's show "Family Affair", but we had him trying hard to hide a smile and bestowing us with hints of his wry humor by he end of the meal.

Fresh, rustic bread was presented right off the bat (always served at room temp in Italy, however).

Lightly battered and deep-fried squash blossoms stuffed with marscarpone (I'm guessing here) along with other soft Italian cheeses and herbs are my new drug.  THE best new food I tried on this trip.  Orgasmic.  I may even have to leave UD for taking two of them (adding insult to injury when coupled with the baby eel incident).  There's a limit to how much crap a woman can take.

In our attempt to order one last cured meat platter, we somehow wound up with a plateful of smoked fish...which is not the spousal unit's fave although he did put on his brave face and actually seemed to enjoy it.  Beautifully presented, it tasted as fresh as the sea and was complemented with accompanying toast points and sweet butter.

Hit me with that final bottle of Prosecco, my love...we fly home tomorrow.  *sniff*

My linguine with fresh, baby mussels in a light garlic and tomato sauce was the best of  its ilk I've ever had...and I'm not even really a fan of larger tomato chunks.  Expecting more of a homogenized red sauce, I hesitated a bit at first, but was soon slurping away like it was my last meal on the planet.  Shocking, right?

Dogboy ordered the Mixed Grill, which was a combo of surprisingly juicy and thin-pounded chicken breast, Italian sausage and pork. Served with a side of potato chips, it was one tasty, carnivorous caveman feast.

I really hadn't an inch to spare in my jeans for dessert, but ordered the Rum Baba anyway (a light, rum-saturated cake filled with custard and garnished with fresh fruit).  There was nothing wrong with it, but I was so gorged by the time it arrived that I could only get down a few bites.  I probably should've ordered more fried squash blossoms for dessert...I would've definitely carved out more stomach space for that.

UD's Profiteroles were little pastry-clad balls of whipped cream perfection....luxuriously drizzled in a silky, semi-sweet chocolate sauce.  He proclaimed it the "best dessert of the trip" and I almost would've agreed with him if not for Taverna Azzurra's Limoncello Cake.  Decadence at its best!

Back in Tampa and fat, now.  The End.

http://www.villarubinacci.it/rubinacciristorante_UK.html