Giulia - A Little Bit About a Lot of Things A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

January 8, 2014 Giulia

On the snowiest day of winter thus far, a friend and I venture out to Giulia in Cambridge. Located between Harvard Square and Porter Square, it is the first restaurant of Michael Pagliarini, award-winning former chef of Via Matta, and his wife, Pamela Ralston. There is a warm welcoming feeling when we walk in, from the enormous velvet curtain to keep the cold out, to this smiling hostess, to the exposed brick walls and soft candle light, this place has a great neighborhood vibe. We sit at a two top and I am lucky enough to have a great view of the open kitchen and the pasta table. By day, they use the table to roll out fresh pasta and by night they set up the table for people to dine at.

I start with the burrata di puglia with pan roasted baby beets, apples, puntarelle and coratina extra virgin olive oil ($14). It was tasty, but I’m not sure I loved the beets with the dish. The crisp apples gave a nice contrast to the buttery burrata – loved that part about the dish.

We both had the pappardelle with wild boar (black trumpet, juniper and aged parmigiano)($21). This dish was delicious. The thin ribbons of pappardelle were light as can be and the wild boar gave this dish a nice winter feeling. We left feeling full, but I can’t help but wish we had just a little more of that delicious pasta!

And for dessert, we both had the chocolate terrine ($8) vanilla gelato, caramel, salted almonds. The terrine was dense and rich and paired nicely with the saltiness of the almonds and caramel. The service was right on point, we never felt rushed even though seating is at a premium here. We would definitely go back for another round and try some of the other delicious pastas on the menu.