Coltello Ristorante Italiano - Crosswicks, NJ

What is there to say other than the fact that it was a gorgeous NJ night to go visit Coltello.  Again, yet another restaurant that we haven't visited nearly as frequently as we should, and I wish we had a good excuse.  But it really is hard to get back to many restaurants all the time when we have so many new ones that we want to visit!
 
As we pulled up, the valet gave me a ticket and we went inside.  The restaurant was nicely lit and looking gorgeous as ever.  There is just something so cozy about Coltello that I love.
 
We were sat at a 4 top along the right hand side of the restaurant, and I pulled a 2006 Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon from the carrying case along with our standard Riedel glasses.  There really is nothing at all wrong with the stemware at Coltello, but we are just in the habit of using our own stems.  Our wine was opened and we were on our way.  Our waitress came over, and I want to say that her name is Jessica, but in all honesty I can't remember now.  Sorry!  She read us the appetizers that were tempting, and we gave it some thought. 
 
She came back a few minutes later and we started with the meat and cheese plate.  This came out in a long and narrow dish, and looked gorgeous.  Very thinly sliced apples, olives, a soft sliced in square chunk salami, blue cheese, and another cheese.  This was a huge portion really, and at $12, it was worth every penny.  This went very nicely with the grilled bread that was topped with roasted garlic cloves.  One thing however I do miss that came with the breads at our last visit is the roasted red peppers and onion that was gorgeous.
 
Next out were the soup and salad.  Zelda's salad consisted of good fancy greens with a very fresh tasting balsamic vinaigrette.  This was tasty!  I opted for the soup, and it was a vegetable medley that consisted of great vegetables and a very nice stock.  I have no idea what vegetables were in here as there were many, but there were some beans, zucchini, carrots perhaps, tomato, onion, and I am sure many others I am missing.  This was awesome topped with a bit of fresh parmesan cheese.  We ended up switching dishes about 1/2 way through so we both got a taste of each and they were both stomach pleasers!  This was perfect as we waited for our entrees.
 
Speaking of entrees, Zelda had the lobster risotto that was cooked perfectly.  This was served with a half of lobster tail that was split lengthwise, and served over the risotto.  The risotto had very nice flavors, and was cooked without a flaw.  It actually made me wish I had ordered a side of the risotto, but I ended up just picking off of her plate a little bit, and there was so much there that neither of us could finish the last quarter of the dish.
 
I ordered the Chicken Domenico, which is a little out of my comfort zone, but I had a hard time choosing, and this just sounded perfect tonight.  This starts out with two nice chicken breasts, topped with a Marsala sauce and crispy fried prosciutto.  Again, awesome flavors here, and the chicken was cooked perfectly.  I devoured the giant chicken breast, but that still left me enough for lunch for tomorrow.
 
All in all, what is there to say other than the fact that we had 2 great meals.  We wanted to send our regards to Chef Dominick, however, it turns out he wasn't even there tonight as he was working the Italian American Festival at Mercer County Park this weekend along with his father Richard!  The beauty of this is the fact that we never would have known had we not said something, so kudos to whomever was filling in for Chef Dominick tonight!  Everything was still fantastic, and we look forward to seeing the family on our next visit.  Keep up the great work!  Cheers!  -F. Scott