Tuli Bistro

I'm sure I posted about Tuli before when we first went there but it is still my favorite place . I've heard pros and cons about the service etc. but it has yet to fail me. Sue, Chris and I went there on Tuesday for a very belated birthday dinner for the three of us. We got there around 6:30 and there were 3 spaces up at the bar, next to the pizza oven. Yes, I got to sit by the pizza oven and it was rather warm especially on such a hot evening. It is actually the best place to sit because it is where all the action in the kitchen is. We had a great time interacting with the chefs. In fact Chris being Chris(loud and very out going) kept asking about the different pizzas and finally just told one of the chefs to make us one, the Salumi which he did. That was our appetizer and it was very good with a nice thin crisp crust. The waitress then came to take our order for dinner. Sue had the Panzanella, the Tuscan bread salad and Chris and I split the Harvest salad. Both salads were very good. I love their Panzanella because the bread is still crunchy not soggy like so many I've had and the Harvest salad had delicious roasted nectarines, pine nuts and goat cheese. At this point Chris is just practically having an orgasm over her salad.. chef Adam Pechal happened to be making a pizza in front of us and was supper busy with other dishes as well. Chris is pounding on the counter shouting "excuse me, excuse me"

He finally looks up thinking she's going to complain and when she tells him how much she loves the salad, the look on his face was priceless. He starts laughing and says he really thought "I don't have time for this" the look of relief was so funny. After that as busy as they all were back there they answered any questions we (I) had about cooking techniques etc and were so nice we had a good back and forth banter going on through the meal. Now, entrees were the Pan seared sweetbreads..cooked to perfection and delicious though nobody else wanted a taste, which was fine I didn't have to share. Sue and Chris got the Pork and Peaches, fire roasted Duroc pork chop with spinach and a peach sauce. They both raved about it, I had a taste and it was really delicious.
I think for desert we split a stone fruit cobbler w/vanilla ice cream. It was good but we were so full we barely put a dent in it. It was a very fun evening probably one of the most enjoyable that I've had in a while. The food is delicious, top notch.
For those of you who complain about the service.. I've never had bad service but go sit at the bar, if your waitress is taking too long, yell your order to the chef (be on his good side first) he will make it for you. Do sit by the pizza oven if you can even if it is warm there, it is the ideal place to observe the goings on in the kitchen and make friends with the chefs.

Sweetbreads

Peaches and Porkchops

Cobbler

Tuli Bistro

Sue and I loved Tuli Bistro the first time we went so we decided to try it again... Absolutely wonderful. I said after the first visit that this was now my favorite restaraunt.. well, after this 2nd visit it definately is. They have small plates so it makes it great for trying a variety of dishes and sharing. We started with the Chop Chop salad, a chopped salad with small cubes of salami and shreds of Procciuto. It was dressed with a light blue cheese dressing.. very good.
We then had the clams in a broth with Chorizo and tomatoes and harissa. . good and spicey, we asked for bread to soak up the broth. We moved on to Agnialoti.. basically an Italian potsticker. Small suffed pasta (looked like potstickers) with Chantrelle mushrooms and roasted corn. It was delicious. I also ordered the sweetbreads.. This was in a sweet and sour sauce with goat cheese won tons.. I've never had sweetbreads in anything other than a red wine reduction.. the sweet and sour was a little strange to me, but it tasted good and the sweet breads were perfectly cooked... OK the final dish was the quail on a bed of Risotto.. wood fired quail atop a risotto of wild mushrooms, bacon and spinach...to die for! Everything was perfect.. We had the same waitress as last time and she remembered us. The service was very good. We ended the meal with desert of course.. like we needed that but I had the Key Lime tart and Sue had the Ice Cream sandwich.. either peanut butter or chocolate cookie with either vanilla or chocoate ice cream. I love love love this place! A comfortable neighborhood restaraunt.. very small and cozy. The chef's are fun to watch, next time I want to try a pizza. We watched the chef tossing several tonight. Service is friendly and prompt..plus the menu changes daily depending on what fresh ingredients are available.. if I could I'd eat here every day.
No pictures, something happed to my camera so, it's at Sony hopefully getting repaired.




Eileen

TULI BISTRO

I am so excited to have finally gotten to try this wonderful restaurant. This is now my favorite place in Sacramento. Last night we finally got over there and what a revelation. It is a small little restaurant with out door seating. The interior has maybe 4 or 5 tables and bar seating for maybe 10 or 12 people. Then there is the outside seating with maybe another 10 tables or so. We sat at the bar which was fun because we got to watch the chef's cooking. Everything is pretty much made to order. I think the menu changes with whatever is locally available and with the season. Last night we started with the Panzanella Salad (bread salad). It was one of the best Panzanella salad's I've had. We then went on to the Mussels.. P.E.I. mussels with cherry tomatoes, arugula,garlic and herbs and Belgan ale. It was wonderful, the broth was especially good with bread dipped into it. We then had the Shrimp Risotto..Shrimp, andouille sausage, roasted peppers and sun dried tomatoes. It was awesome.. wonderful flavors. Tianna wasn't quite as thrilled, she wanted pasta but there was only one pasta on the menu and it said it was spicy so that wasn't for her. She was put out that they didn't have gnocchi so wasn't going to eat. She finally decided on the scallops. They were Day Boat scallops with sauteed spinach and mashed potatoes. She love the spinach and mashed potatoes but wasn't thrilled with the scallops. She did say that the scallops were really tender. I guess she was used to rubbery ones.
She did like the Tuscan bread in the Panzanella salad. She was just being her Diva self. Desert for her was Creme Brulee, which help improve her mood. I had the Key lime pie and Sue and had Chocolate Cake.
Besides a few salads they have pizza and the entrees are small plates meant to be shared. Everything we had was excellent. I was thrilled to have found a place with the "WOW" factor, at least for me.

The Diva

Tuli Bistro

2031 Street

451-8854

_Eileen_