A Seat at Her Table
Following Taste, Finding More
Pici Auckland, New Zealand
In Tessera 55: Taste, Up Close I wrote about four small-format restaurants – Margot and Graze Wine Bar in Wellington and Londo and Gatherings in Christchurch.
But I intentionally held back Pici in Auckland. Pici was my last meal in New Zealand. I knew my dinner there would be perfect for a weekly series I had been developing about a word that has come to shape my life – Taste.
A small crowd gathers just inside St. Kevin’s Arcade in Auckland. We’re waiting for Pici to open, and when it does, guests, including myself, shuffle in. I am shown to a seat at the bar and given a menu for bites and sips. I want every pasta on the menu, but half-portions aren’t offered.
I start with the Tuna Carpaccio drizzled in just the right amount of olive oil. Its freshness joyfully lights up every taste bud in my mouth. I move on to the Apple Stracciatella. It has a texture I think about three or four times a day – soft, creamy, crunchy and crisp.
For my entrée, I take the Linguine with Anchovy Butter. And as full as I am, I can’t resist ending the evening and my three-week trip on Dark Chocolate Semifreddo with Pistachio and Salted Caramel. The first bite sits me upright as the salt crystals from the caramel and pistachio explode like fireworks across the surface of my tongue. I am fully and happily alert.
Over the course of the evening I take every recommendation the chill and chipper woman behind the bar gives me. She doesn’t miss. I have an orange wine, a chilled red, and I ring out New Zealand on one final glass of its walnut Vermouth.
At the end of the evening, I reluctantly gather my belongings, wanting to linger and sip just a little bit longer. Just before I turn to leave, the woman behind the bar says she’s sorry we didn’t get a chance to chat more. She’d read my blog and was excited to connect that evening.
I lit up inside, thanking her for that. I walked into the chilly Kiwi night feeling warm and satisfied in mind, body, gut and soul.
We had connected that night – Taste had fortuitously sat me at her table.
