The wife and I decided to splurge for our wedding anniversary dinner. We wanted to dress up. We wanted a nice, elegant evening with great food. We went to Ella and got exactly what we wanted.

First, the food. The FOOD. When I go to a restaurant, I want good food. Sure, I expect great service, but if the food is great, it just might overshadow poor service. I have said on numerous occasions to my wife that good food should make you cry.

A happy cry, of course.

Ella’s simple menu made it both difficult to choose and easy to choose: difficult because I wanted to try everything, and easy because the menu wasn’t pages and pages of various dishes. Our chosen meal?

• Pan-seared sea scallops with olive oil-cured tomatoes and tiny mizuna on top, all seated on creamy grits
• Wood oven meatballs with roasted tomato sauce and sheep’s milk ricotta
• Handkerchief pasta with braised porcini mushrooms, herbed formage blanc and parmesan cream

We shared the first two dishes, while we each had our own handkerchief pasta plate.

I had, with my meal, a glass of Pinot Noir from Regis Bouvier (Marsannay, Clos Du Roy; 2006), recommened by our wonderful server, Andrea. I knew we were going to have a variety of food types (seafood, red meat, and pasta), so the Pinot was recommended as a versatile wine that wouldn’t be overbearing with fruitiness. After my first sip, I smiled. The wine was quite good and fun to drink.

The scallops were very large and cooked just right. Tender and moist, it went very, very well with the tomato, mizuna, and grits, the latter being the heaviest part of the dish. My wife, not the biggest seafood lover, even liked the scallops (though she couldn’t finish it as the texture was starting to slightly overwhelm her palate).

The meatballs were small in size, about the size of a Swedish meatball. They were the richest meatballs I’ve ever had. They were moist and bursting with salty meat flavor (in a good way), a huge contrast to the scallops. I really liked them, while my wife absolutely loved them.

Then, our final dish: the handkerchief pasta. The smell was amazing. I wanted to leave the dish alone so I could enjoy the smell and also eat the thing at the same time. Two sheets of pasta – shaped like handkerchiefs, of course – blanketed a small bed of porcini mushrooms. My first bite was pasta only, wet with sauce. It was – I dare say this word – exquisite. Damn straight. It was a beautiful bite of food, buttery, with the faintest hint of garlic (if my palate was correct), with a tartness at the end from the flavor of the mushrooms that had melded with the rest of the light sauce. Eating the mushrooms themselves brought out the tartness and complimented the other components well. They weren’t overbearing and didn’t have a very strong, overwhelming “mushroom-flavor” that, I assume, many people associate with mushrooms… especially ones who don’t like them. My wife is someone that hates mushrooms, but she tried one, and after going through her usual “Do I Like This Weird Thing” face, she told me that it wasn’t bad… and then proceeded to eat all of her mushrooms! I couldn’t believe it. Thank you, Ella, for cooking and serving mushrooms that my wife would eat. I will need to buy porcini mushrooms and attempt to cook them in the same manner so that I can have mushrooms in the food at home again.

For dessert, I did not want anything too sweet. I was going to have a scotch and soda, but for some reason decided I would have another glass of wine, something fruitier this time. Andrea recommended a Copain “Tous Ensemble” Syrah (Mendocino, CA; 2007). My experience with Syrahs is that they are fruity and slightly spicy. Noticing that I was thinking about her recommendation, she offered to bring me a taste. Bonus. I ended up having a glass.

As the dessert menu came, along with my wine, I saw that they had artisan cheeses with traditional garnishes. Even though I did not want more to eat, I gave in to my gluttonous whims and had the cheese, while my wife ordered the hazelnut chocolate torte with coffee ice cream.

I can’t comment on the torte, other than my wife liked her dessert with the exception of what she thought were candied hazelnuts.

The cheeses, however, were excellent. All of them. Nicoli Farm goat cheese, which was bright, light, and tart; aged Vella Jack, which was hard, strong, had bite, was slightly nutty (again, if my palate is correct), and had a lot in common with the texture of Gruyere; Blu del Moncenisio, a strong, semi-soft blue cheese; a Montbriac, which was similar to brie, though not as strong. The Montbriac, I learned during this writing, is a French blue cheese. The cheeses were served with garnishes: nuts (I don’t know what kind), moist white gingered raisins, and small, cubed fruit paste. I forget the fruit, but the flavor was sweet and, for some reason, reminded me of tamarind. I sampled the fruit paste and raisins, but mostly concentrated on the cheeses, which I had with a few pieces of long, fry-bread herb crackers. A wonderful dessert. I got to take the cheese I was unable to finish home.

I literally smiled all throughout dinner.

All of the portions were small, as all dishes are done as small plates. I had no problem with this and, in fact, there was no need for bigger portions. The thing is, each dish was so good, when I finished with my portions I concluded that I had just eaten the right amount. There was no need for more scallops, more meatballs, or more pasta. I’m certainly accustomed to eating a whole lot more food, but in the case of Ella, I didn’t feel like the portions should’ve been bigger. I was completely satisfied with what I had, and I shared two of the dishes with my wife. Perhaps this is what is missing from everyday food: the feeling that what is being eaten is so good that just a little bit will do; the sensation that so much flavor is exploding in your mouth from one dish that more would be too much. Could sensory overload be the cure to overeating? Something to ponder.

As for the ambience, well… it was great. The ceiling is oddly decorated with wooden shutters. While the rest of the room has a very modern, clean look, the shutters were a nice touch, giving the atmosphere a down-to-earth feel. I was hoping for a quiet dining experience, but the room was alive with chatter. It wasn’t incredibly loud, and the noise level was probably accentuated by the acoustics of the room. It was a mix of high-end dining with a casual vibe. Eating at Ella was an enjoyable experience.

Service was excellent. I was nervous at first because my wife, who had a work lunch at Ella a few months earlier, told me that the wait staff comes by to fold your napkin if you leave the table. Now, I’m not big on having other people touch things that I apply to my mouth, but when I came back from the restroom, I found that my napkin, though refolded, was pretty much intact the way I left it. They changed out our serving and dining ware with every course so that the remnants from one dish did not affect the next dish. Everything was clean: the silverware, the glasses… everything. The bathrooms: clean. The dining area: clean.

My only disappointment – and this is extremely minor, mind you – was that, when I made the reservations by phone, the person asked if we were celebrating anything special. I told her that it was our wedding anniversary, and she said she would make a note of it. That, to me, implied that perhaps some mention of it would be made by our server or the hostess. No mention of it was made, so I was left wondering why the note was made in the first place. But as I said, this is an extremely minor point.

There are few restaurants that I make the declaration of “needing” to return to, and Ella is one of the few. I look forward to the day when I can afford to return. Speaking of afford, I have no problem revealing that we dropped quite a bit of money on this meal. When I pay for something, I want value. Just because there is a lot of something, doesn’t mean it’s good; just because something is good, doesn’t mean there’s enough. In the case of Ella, high quality food meets just the right amount, all in a comfortable, eye-pleasing setting with great service.

That said, what’s this review’s rating guide?

	Simply excellent. Worth every single penny.
	A wonderful visit, but…
	Overpriced for what we got, but some good eats.
	Way too much money for some meh food.
	You might as well throw $100 in the trash. It’s better than visiting this place.

I give Ella Dining Room and Bar 5 stars, which is rare for me. Excellent food that was worth the higher price, wonderful service, and a great atmosphere lent itself to a great anniversary outing. I shall return. Plus, a special thank you to Andrea, our server. I’d read several reviews that either described the service as “great” or “pretentious”. Andrea falls into the former category. She made the evening very pleasant, was super-friendly, and made us feel welcome and comfortable. She also wrote down the names of the wines and cheese for me for my future reference.

Ella Dining Room and Bar
1131 K St
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 443-3772