La Mia Cucina I Michael Scanlon

Lobster Ravioli

We’re told that decadence is a bad thing. They say it leads to wanton ways and self-indulgence. But what if Gordon Gekko was right? What if greed really is good, if the wages of sin is lobster ravioli? OK – he never said that last bit. If Wall Street had taken place in Pacific Grove (hard to imagine) and Gekko dined at La Mia Cucina, however, it might have become a catch phrase. The lobster ravioli here is pure decadence on a plate.

The shellfish filling is thin, but enough to steep hints of sea breeze and sweetness into each bite. The pasta is delicate, almost vanishing upon discovery. Yet chef Michael Scanlon could leave the ravioli off and the dish would still consume you.

It’s only a sherry cream sauce – sherry, butter, cream and nutmeg. “That’s about it,” Scanlon says. What he coaxes from this, however, is a pool of opulence, ample from cream, tinged the hue of golden thread. There is a raspy murmur from the sherry reduction that appeals to the lobster like gentle white pepper.

“It’s a great complement,” Scanlon observes. “It’s not overpowering.”

No, it’s not. But somehow you are still taken by it. In this case, greed is really, really good.

La Mia Cucina Ristorante 208 17th St., Pacific Grove. 373-2416, lamiacucinaristorante.com