Riva has a new menu!!! No more pizza is served on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at dinner. Jason Travi and his team have introduced Stuzzichini or Italian tapas – meant for sharing.
menu
Not pictured – Krug Champagne to start
Black Olive Puree, fresh herbs, anchovy with crostini – my husband ate every bite, but be forewarned you must be a lover of black olives and anchovies
Crudo – Sea Bass, pink peppercorns, lemon oil – sushi quality fish, lightly dressed
Crudo – Tonno di tonnato – Big Eye tuna with tonnato sauce – outstanding and a must order crudo
What makes this absolutely delicious is the tonnato sauce
BYO White wine
Crudo – Hokkaido Scallop, Santa Rosa Plums, Basil Oil – Superb Hokkaido scallops with Farmer’s market plums, but the balance was off with way too much basil oil.
My husband came up with ingenious method of deep-sixing most of the basil oil; he used the bread as a blotter so we had wonderful fresh scallops with plums minus a lot of the basil oil. Our general feeling was why mask a quality ingredient with so much oil. (We didn’t eat the bread; it was just a blotter).
Crudo – Cured Ocean Trout, House Made Mustard, Dill – the ocean trout was very similar in taste and texture to gravlax
The mustard was more like a creme fraiche sauce than a mustard
Deep-fried Squash Blossoms, ricotta, orange zest, almonds with a tomato based puree – I liked this better than my husband. The batter on the squash blossoms was tempura-like – not at all greasy. John found it too “safe” and boring. I enjoyed the transition between the crudo and then the fried squash blossoms.
Potato, Summer Green Fig, Gruyere Cheese Gratin – very thinly sliced potatoes served gratin style with the cheese and topped with the sliced green figs served bubbling hot.
Hand Cut Beef Tartare, Chives, Bacon Sabayon – usually I tend to like beef tartare finely minced served the traditional way with capers, parsley, mustard, worcestershire and a raw egg. However, this was excellent and Jason could package the bacon sabayon as THE accompaniment to anything.
The tartare was served with Crostini – I ate mine minus Crostini with lots of sabayon.
Mint Basil Puree, Watermelon Dice, Cantaloupe Soup, Lemon Sorbet – a light refreshing palate cleanser
Milk Chocolate Cremux, Coconut sorbet, Candied Pecans, Brown Butter Ganache – for me the pecans and the coconut were decadent enough – my husband went for the chocolate.
Riva is just a fun neighborhood restaurant with excellent food. There are many items on the menu that I want to try and as the menu changes with what is available at the farmer’s market, this is truly seasonal cuisine. Let’s just say I didn’t miss the pizza at all.
Current menu here:
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