Dining at Osteria Morini - Part of My Michael White Restaurant Tour!

I've mentioned Marea before and how that was one of the best meals I've had last year.  As a result, I've gone to Ai Fiori, Marea's sister restaurant, and now it's time for Osteria Morini!  Osteria Morini is Michael White's casual restaurant and features cuisine from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy (the central city is Bologna).  This is where Michael White worked for seven years, so this restaurant is kind of a homage to his time there:

Polpettine - prosciutto & mortadella meatballs baked in tomato sauce:  a nice start to the meal, the tomato sauce was delicious and the bread was prepared nicely (oiled and then lightly grilled) 

Cappalletti - truffled ricotta ravioli, melted butter, prosciutto:  this is similar to the butter sauces that we made in class, but it's accented with prosciutto and black pepper.  It was definitely tasty - the ravioli was delicious (truffle and ricotta is such a nice combination) and this paired very well with the prosciutto and butter.

Casoncelli - squid ink ravioli, shrimp, scallop, passata, calamari, white wine.  This is the main reason I wanted to try Morini - my obsession with squid ink runs deep!  This was a very nice dish and one that I'll try to recreate on my own.

Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Onion - another food obsession of mine.  I love Brussels sprouts (it soaks up flavors so well) - this was a pretty good side dish.

Gianduja Budino - Chocolate Hazelnut custard, amarena cherries, caffe cream, cherry lambrusco sorbetto: this felt like a copy of the maple budino at Locanda Verde (which is what led me to the pasta comparison after the fact) except that it's with hazelnut instead of maple. Both are served with preserved fruit, toasted nuts, and a cherry sorbet as a palette cleanser, though I do prefer Locanda Verde's version. Taste-wise, both are very good, but Osteria's needs more of the preserved cherries and toasted hazelnuts - the proportions of the different components is a bit unbalanced, while Locanda's was spot on.