Dinner with the Maio's

Guest Blogger: Matt Maio

Review of the Bansemar Dinner

It was a cold and wet Sunday night, but the welcome was warm when we showed up at the Bansemar household. We came with a semi-fresh loaf of bread, but the Bansemar's pretended to be happy with our selection. Always the sign of a good host.

To start the evening we listened to stories of yester-year from Shawn and Melissa. They also went into the latest baby details, which warmed our hearts with delight. The evening took a sour turn when the Brewers game ended with a loss. But fortunately dinner was right around the corner, and the empty void in our souls would be filled with comfort food prepared by Shawn and Melissa.

Service was a little slow to start off, we had to cut our own bread and make our own dipping oil. The timing of the service was a little off as well, Shawn had completely forgot he made beans and was shocked when it came time to serve all the food. The kitchen really seemed overwhelmed to try and serve all the dishes at once. But it was eventually it was served and we were ready to dig in.

The complex flavors of the pork in the lime cream sauce more than made up for the near disaster in the timing of service. In each bite you could taste the tender pork, and the acidity of the tomatoes complimented with the flavor of the lime juice, it was a party in my mouth. There was also a perfect amount of heat from the jalapeno peppers, most likely picked out fresh that morning by the chef at the local market. The perfect starch of rice pilaf complimented the whole dish. Slightly overcooked, but still it made the entire dish come together.

The bagged salad was a little bit underwhelming. Nothing to write home about, but then again what do you expect from a salad in a bag. Both kitchen chefs were arguing about forgetting the tomatoes for the ceasar salad. Although ceasar salad is not supposed to have tomatoes, one of the chefs said it was "too damn bad, that's the way I make it," and the chef that did the shopping should not have forgot them.

Dessert was a wonderfully light bite of angel food cakes, whipped cream and strawberries. I thought I would miss the traditional sugar on the strawberries, but to my delight the fresh strawberries provided just the right sweetness to the dish. A lovely cup of smooth roast folger's crystals with french vanilla cream topped off the experience. Several comments went around the table about how good the coffee was.

Overall the experience was great, the complex flavors of the pork dish really made my weekend. The dinner conversation was top notch as well. Shawn and Melissa know how to keep the conversation lively. I would recommend dining here anytime.