Lauro Mediterranean Kitchen

A restaurant at which we recently dined, Lauro is an expansive room with loads of talent and warm plates of food to delight in. The service was excellent. I ordered the Chicken Tagine one Saturday night, and it came with couscous, butternut squash, chickpeas, and currants. It was fun to taste this dish of Moroccan origin, with the perfect touch of spices that don't overwhelm, and suddenly have a pleasant sweetness in the mouth from a currant or two. Chicken Tagine comes to your table in a very warm bowl and your entire meal is within it. How nice that it stays warm throughout the dining hour! My companion had the same experience with his Seafood Paella. It had mussels, clams, calamari, shrimp, and chourico sausage on a bed of rice. The sausage is very unique, meaty and delicious. I also tasted the mussels and they were wonderfully plump and very fresh. He ate the whole thing, so it was obviously a hit with him ~ !
I didn't finish mine, but reserved the remainder for later at home. I simply had to try the apple tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream. It was glorious; the pastry was very fresh and tasted house-made, which isn't a far cry from reality, I'm sure, since they have a pastry chef there, Nancy Forrest. I am a sucker for good pastry, and indeed, I ate the whole thing.
My companion had the dessert special, a Grand Marnier pot de creme, with creme chantilly, and chocolate shortbread cookies on the side. Not to put too fine a point on it, but, ah, he ate all of it, too. I did have a chance -- barely -- to taste it; and it was very sophisticated and yummy.
After we left the restaurant, he said "One of the few times we've been in a place like that (a nice restaurant with innovative food) where I seriously considered having the pizza." There's always next time.
ciao
deb