San Lorenzo is Chef Massimo Fabbri's most personal and passionate endeavor yet, paying homage to his family and hometown of Monsummano Terme in the Tuscan region of Italy. The menu features simple but perfect preparation of fine, fresh ingredients from the Tuscan region; the classic dishes with which Chef Fabbri grew up. Named after Massimo's son, who in turn is named for San (or Saint) Lorenzo, the patron saint of chefs, this Italian restaurant is a fine addition to the Shaw neighborhood. Closest Metro is Convention Center.
Keith had been wanting to try this new spot for a while now, so we made reservations during our winter break and
took a Lyft up to Shaw for dinner. I was surprised by how small and narrow the space was, and we were squeezed into a small two-top nearly 6 inches from another table. We looked over the menu and naturally, ordered a bottle of red wine to go with our meal. We settled on the
2016 Dei, Rosso di Montepulciano, from Tuscany, Italy. It was medium bodied and paired nicely with the seafood.
We started with the
Fiori di Zucca - deep fried squash blossoms filled with truffled goat cheese and served with tomato sauce and organic greens. The flowers were tender and light.
We paired it with another appetizer from the daily specials menu -
La Belle Foie Gras Terrine with apple and amaretto puree and sea salt. The portion was a bit small, and the flavor was alright. The fat was thick, and the sauce a little too sweet.
As a second course, we shared the
Squid Ink Fettuccine with Manila clams, cherry tomatoes, and pancetta. There were big slices of garlic and nice briny flavor. I really liked this dish.
For his main course, Keith ordered another daily special -
Breaded Veal Chop Milanese with raddichio and pancetta vinaigrette. It was a large slab of pounded meat with thick flakes of finishing salt. The meat was tender and caught the eye of our table neighbors.
I chose the
Grilled Black Sea Bass with organic kale and spinach. The fish was soft and had great grill flavor. Though I was eyeing another pasta dish, I was happy with this choice as I did not leave overly stuffed. The fish brought out a sweetness in my red wine, that was interesting.
We passed on dessert, which seemed wise after reading the bottom of the menu. Gluttony in moderation, my friend. Overall, we had a great meal at San Lorenzo and would come back to try some of the other mouthwatering dishes. Service got a little crazy as soon as we arrived, so it took a while for our order to be taken and to be served. But our server acknowledged and unnecessarily apologized. Be warned there are large tv screens above the bar, which is the entire half of the restaurant (Keith didn't want to be spoiled by the football game scores flashing across the screen, so asked to sit with his back towards the screens.)
Total Rating:
3.88
Food: 4, Price: 4, Service: 3.5, Ambience: 3, Accessibility: 4.5
