Every once in a blue moon, Carrabba's, a sister restaurant of The Outback, does a "tasting", and I was quick enough to sneak into one yesterday. They're open to the public, but they're first come, first serve, and the kind of people who like to go to these things end up grabbing all of the reservations for themselves and their friends before the find out if their friends can go. The result is that they fill up quickly, and then about half of the seats are empty.
I had to go to the Pompano location as Fort Lauderdale filled up quickly.
Today they were showcasing their new Trio Menu, which is a create your own sampler from 9 of their favorite menu choices.
They tell you to get there promptly at 4:30, but then they didn't start serving food until after 5pm. 20 minutes with an empty table. Along with the food, they were offering tastes of their Sangrias, but it was too early for me to drink alcohol. So I opted for an iced tea; they did bring out bread; I ended up landing a whole loaf for myself due to the sparse attendance.
The bread is excellent; not hearty crusty bread, but a good loaf with a well-conceived dip. The bread kept us from stewing while we waited for some food. Finally, at 5:05, the first "sample" came out:
Surprisingly, this was chicken marsala, which isn't one of the choices on the Trio Menu. Interestingly, this was also the best dish of the evening. Usually chicken marsala is breaded or battered and sauteed; I really liked the wood-grilled taste of the chicken paired with the rich marsala. The manicotti was also good; I assume that this was a half portion; it was good pasta with lots of nice ricotta cheese.
Something else that I like about Carrabba's is that they have freshly grated romano cheese, which I like more than the standard parmesan. Next was the salmon.
In order to get your money's worth for the $15.50 trio, you just about have to get the Salmon or the Steak. Grilling isn't the usual way to prepare salmon; it benefits from sauteing in butter or oil. The salmon was fine, perhaps a shade overdone, but the "tomato basil vinegrette" didn't work. I scraped it off.
The Cavatappi pasta (I call it Cellentani or "corkscrew") is served with an "Americana" meat sauce, but there was nothing good about them really. One of the 3 "courses" is pasta, and unfortunately they didn't sample the Fettuccine Alfredo or Spaghetti with meat sauce which both probably are better than this.
Time for some steak.
The first time I ever went to a Carrabba's I ordered the sirloin marsala, mainly because I'd never seen it on a menu before. I didn't care for it; it just didn't work for me. This was before Carrabba's started grilling their meats on a wood-fired grill. This was much better; very good in fact. Not as good as the chicken, but a nicely grilled, medium rare steak with a rich, mushroom sauce. They say that it has prosciutto, but none of us could detect any. The pasta, which they call "mezzaluna", are called Agnolotti in real italian restaurants, and maybe ravioli at the supermarket. This version was stuffed with chicken, ricotta, Parmigiano-Reggiano and spinach in a tomato cream sauce. They're very nice; not too rich, not very generously stuffed, but a good pair with the steak.
And now the final sample.
By now I'd had a lot of food, so my taste buds weren't the same as with the first course. I'd tasted the Chicken Bryan before, and frankly I don't get why it's so popular. Maybe people who think that goat cheese is a big deal, but I don't like the pair. It overpowers the chicken and I just find myself wanting to wash it down. The lasagna is billed as being "layered with bolognese", but the meat is hardly discernible. It's more of a cheese lasagna. Of the 3 "filled" pasta choices, this would be my 3rd choice.
The Trio Menu
The trio menu, which costs $15.50, allows you to chose one item for each of 3 categories.
Wood-Burning Grill
- Chicken Bryan -Topped with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and our housemade lemon butter sauce
- Grilled Salmon* Topped with tomato basil vinaigrette
- Sirloin Marsala* Wood-grilled and topped with mushrooms, prosciutto and our housemade Lombardo Marsala wine sauce
Italian Classics
- Mezzaluna Half moon ravioli with chicken, ricotta, Parmigiano-Reggiano and spinach in our housemade tomato cream sauce
- Manicotti Rolled pasta with romano, ricotta, mozzarella and fontina cheese, baked with our pomodoro sauce
- Lasagne Fresh lasagne pasta layered with our pomodoro, bolognese meat sauce and Italian cheeses
Signature Pasta
- Cavatappi Amatriciana Cavatappi corkscrew pasta tossed in our housemade amatriciana sauce
- Fettuccine Alfredo Fresh fettuccine tossed in housemade Alfredo sauce and romano cheese
- Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Spaghetti topped with our housemade meat sauce
I wasn't initially aware of how this menu worked, but once I saw the actual categories I was a bit disappointed. I tend to lean low-carb, and the best dishes are all in the wood grilled categories. I don't really want a pasta at all; I much preferred their chicken trio where you could get multiple chicken choices and a vegetable side. Having to get 2 pastas is too much starch for my taste; so I won't be actually ordering this dish.
I also tried to nail them down on the actual portions compared to the samples, and the answers weren't definitive. But based on the staged pictures (such as the one at the top of this article), the portions aren't particularly generous.
Based on the tasting, and considering that we didn't get to taste 2 of the pasta choices; and also considering that the best thing I tasted isn't on the actual trio menu, I make my recommendations with some hesitation. If I were forced at gunpoint to order this dish, I'd either go for the Sirloin Marsala or the Salmon, The Manicotti and the Fettuccine Alfredo.
If you're dining with 2 or more, you might just get the Chicken or Sirloin Marsala and the Manicotti and split it; you'll get soup or salad as well instead of the possibly unwanted pasta.
One thing I noticed is that 3 couples left before me, and none of them left a tip. You're getting $30 worth of free food plus a drink; leave a few bucks for the girls who served you, people.