Aliseo Osteria del Borgo

Tom had been wanting to go to, what he kept calling "Aiello", which is actually Aliseo Osteria del Borgo in Prospect Heights for awhile now, and I am glad we finally got to get dinner there last night.

It is a cute albeit rustic brick-walled restaurant with empty wine bottles lining the wall. A charming old black & white photo of what I assumed was a family of 100 and pig figurines adorned the mantle of the (faux?) fire place next to our table.
It was a modest menu, but the items were listed in Italian with English descriptions beneath, and actually to my disappointment- a few items were not available, but there were still several left for us to choose from.

To start, we were served a bowl of Ricotta and olive oil with warm and soft foccacia and very thin melba toast-like pieces of bread that were addicting speckled with coarse salt around the edges.

We ended up sharing an appetizer (mini sesame seed-crusted meatballs served over a line of very basil-y pesto sauce and an orange-colored sauce that has yet to be determined (apricot-based? peach? I couldn't tell as the sesame seeds overpowered most of the flavors, but the meatballs tasted like meat.)

Then we shared a pasta and meat dish. I started with the homemade fettucini with beef ragu. and he started with the pork loin in a red cherry reduction with apples. The meat was cooked perfectly and tender and the fruit was a great addition to the saltiness of the pork- which can be attributed to what Tom calls, "An Italian Pinch of Salt". The pasta definitely had that pinch, but luckily we like salt.

For dessert, he ordered a chocolate tart that was very reminiscent of the chocolate ganache i've made that went wrong (but this was made right). I really liked the crust.

Plus he enjoyed his glasses of wine so overall rating? A+