Yesterday, after work, I headed west to visit my Uncle and his girlfriend, who live in a gorgeous condo right across from the beach. We had a drink on the patio and then hopped in my grandma’s ‘76 Cadillac that my Uncle recently restored. It’s basically a yacht. HUGE.

We looked at a few homes on the westside just for fun and then went to Riva for an early dinner. My uncle wakes up around 4am to get to work so dinner dates with him always take place while it’s still light out. And also basically still lunch time. Especially because he has to get home to lay out five bowls of saran wrap covered cereal for the week. Seriously.

Recently Riva changed their menu to offer stuzzichini, or small plates, rather than large portions. The yelp masses seemed to panic, but I’m always a fan of tapas style because typically I want to try as many things as possible. We were hungry so we ordered kind of a lot of food for three people.

bread and oil:

followed by the new love of my life, hamachi parfait with cucumber, avodaco, basil gelee and spicy tomato. I would sleep with this on the first date. and then totally feel good about it the next day.

The sea bass crudo with pink peppercorns and lemon oil was my type, too. Fresh, elegant and subtle. Like me! no?

The wood fired mushrooms salad with mixed lettuces and parmesan (which we asked for on the side) was nothing to write home about. Maybe I’d email home but I wouldn’t write a letter.

My uncle and his girlfriend loved the fried squash blossoms, which were stuffed with ricotta, orange zest and almonds. Add it to the list of shit I feel deprived of thanks to a dairy allergy.

Then the prosciutto san daniele. If you don’t already, act like you know–San Daniele prosciutto dates back to Celtic-Roman times and the only ingredient used in the treatment process is a minimal amount of sea salt. Talk about pure.

Then the halibut showed up and showed off almost in an effort to out-delicate the prosciutto.
Served with baby artichokes, red onion, and tomato. Simple and perfect.

The marinated lentils with shallots, red wine vinegar and a sunny side up egg were no Cobras & Matadors lentils, but they were really good. I kinda felt protective over them when they showed up at the table, but eventually I let loose and shared them.

Short Rib with creamy semolina, smoked mozzarella and mushrooms. I just ate the meat and that was some tender beef if you ask me. By no means a very substantial portion but who complains about small portions at a tapas style restaurant?

I know that you know, just by the picture, that that shit was good.

I bet you think we stopped there because that would have been a good idea. But noooooooo….somebody thought a pizza with tons of meat on it was a good idea. Why’s everyone looking at me??

I think it was called the Molto Maiare pizza:

And then, because there’s no way that launched us all into a mutual food coma, we ordered a dark chocolate coulant with coffee ice cream, spiced bananas, date puree and oatmeal streusel.

Ummmm, Dear me, stop pretending it doesn’t count if you eat dairy for dessert. you will feel like you got punched in the face when you wake up, seriously. Love, me.

The presentation and preparation of the food was stellar. Service was outstanding and one of the waiters was hot, which shouldn’t matter but it does, ok?

The highlight however, was that Danny DeVito was there, which totally felt like our second date. He didn’t say hi cause Rhea was with him, but I know he wanted to. I need to find the picture from our first date, but here’s the story.