All About Ozzie’s Corner Italian in Fairfax Towne Center
The long awaited opening of Ozzie’s Italian restaurant finally came today.
I wanted to beat traffic and the crowds out there so I left my house around 5pm and got up there in no time. I was greeted by some hostesses outside welcoming everyone and handing them paper menus to look at while they waited.
I made my way to the bar and a couple was just getting up to leave, freeing up the last 2 seats at the corner of the bar, so I had a seat, ordered a glass of water from friendly bartender Melissa, and started checking out the menu.
I zeroed in on the Caesar wedge, which came out right away. I nice, small portion of romaine, sprinkled with a little bit of bacon (wish there was more), a nice splash of their dressing, and a couple of croutons, a couple kalamatas and some miniature capers. and some lovely, explosive shavings of parmegiano reggiano. It was lacking the key ingredient though…..anchovies…so I asked the food runner to grab some and a nice plate was promptly delivered and poured all over the salad completing the dish perfectly.
As I was preparing for an 18 mile run in the morning, I wanted to keep the meal somewhat healthy, so I went for the Bucatini and Meatballs for my main course.
While I was waiting for the main course, I got into the homemade focaccia bread. I drew my knife out of the napkin sheath,and plunged it into the butter and to my delight, the butter was soft. A huge buzzkill in any nice dinner is frozen butter.
When will restaurants stop freezing the damn butter? It ruins the bread.
A generous spread of butter went atop the bread and pop into the mouth…..it was so good. It had a nice salty and oily texture to the outside of it and nice soft and warm on the inside.
I grabbed a glass of the Super Tuscan red to go with dinner and soon enough the meal arrived. A generous portion of pasta was placed in front of me with 4 golf ball sized meatballs that the menu claims is veal, pork and beef balls…i diced up the balls…mixed it all up and started shoveling into my mouth. I felt it did require some salt to draw out the flavoring which was good. Just not quite :the best” but damn good.
Brussel sprouts are my absolute favorite, so anytime I see those on the menu I have to get em. These were call “smashed” and that was exactly the right name for them….practically a creamy, brussel sprout puree with bread crumb crust on top was heavenly….almost reminded me of the Great American Restaurant’s famous spinach and artichoke dip.
It was good, it was all good. I loved the salad, the bucatini and meatballs was good, darn good…..I’ve simply had better and that is what is going to cost this review a full 5 stars. So, it get’s 4.
Total dinner tab for little, old me…$35 bones.
If you feel like the splurge, the have Plump Jack Cab on the wine menu at $134 a bottle, but it’s the only place around that I have seen that sells it.
The parking here is tough. If you go and want to get a table, make sure you phone ahead so they can add you to the list.
Beautiful restaurant.
