Biting Into La Traviata: Mmmm, Squisito!

La Traviata is busy on a Saturday night. We didn't have reservations, but we were lucky enough to snag the last free table of the evening from the very kind hostess.

For our dinner we ordered the Lamb Ragu without the lamb. A truly amazing feat if we do say so ourselves. Hey, it had red sauce and we like our red sauce. But we don't like our lamb. There was no problem in placing this order, as long as you don't mind that you still pay for the lamb you don't eat. At $14.95 it was one of the more expensive pasta dishes on the menu. Take that Olive Garden! Eat wonderful Italian food in a restaurant you can't get to by making a quick stop off a major highway on your drive Des Moines (or wherever you might be driving to. We happen to think Des Moines is underrated). And you aren't breaking the bank, to use an overrused cliche because we don't know any better. Our dining companion also ordered something he loved, but we don't remember what that was because we got a little too buzzed on some pinot noir. Later we put it together that he had the Spaghetti Carobonara (thanks, Google), a heap of pasta with pancetta, onion, and a creamy sauce, topped off with a fried egg. His evaluation: "very rich, but delicious".

We do remember dessert though, and how could we not as it was total perfection. Of course, we don't know how to spell it. Here's a stab: prefieras. Google wasn't so helpful on this search and neither was the guy we spoke to at La Traviata when we called back to get the info. Granted, it was close to the lunch hour (though we made a concerted effort to call before noon, but after 11 so they would be open!), but we hate snootiness and we hate being told to call back, because, well, we won't. We have call reluctance and it was hard enough the first time. So get a goddamn website, people, so people like us can look up your menu online. But back to the dessert. All I know is that it involved some kind of pastry with some kind of creamy filling with a wonderful chocolate sauce dripped over. If you go and you want it, just say "I'd please like that pastry ball thing with the chocolate syrup, thanks."

Update: Our dear Allen Y Chen has saved the day! The beloved dessert is called profiteroles. He's a good speller that Allen. He did go to Columbia, after all. Columbia is full of good spellers, we hear.

La Traviata Italian Bistro
(512) 479-8131
314 Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78701