Health & Fitness
17 Summer Brings Elevated Cuisine to Lodi
17 Summer brings a taste of New York City to the suburbs.
Sometimes you find hidden gems right under your nose in places you’ve lived near your whole life. This is the case with Joseph and Jenna Cuccia’s 17 Summer on the corner of Summer and Autumn Streets in my hometown of Lodi. Growing up in Lodi, 17 Summer was for the longest time known as Vagabondo. It was a café and social club ever since I could remember. But the brother and sister team totally renovated and updated this corner building to look like a quaint and spacious kitchen. You are literally sitting in the kitchen mesmerized by Joseph’s every move.
The interesting thing about this corner bistro is that it does not operate under normal restaurant business hours. Instead, it offers bi-monthly chef’s tastings created by Chef Joseph, who studied culinary arts at Hudson Community College and has worked for culinary big guns like Drew Nieporent, Spike Mendelsohn and Ryan DePersio. Chef Joseph also offers off-site catering.
My wife and I recently had a phenomenal Valentine’s Day dinner at 17 Summer. From the moment you enter the restaurant you are greeted warmly and welcomed like family. We were immediately seated and presented with the menu for the evening. The menu was innovative with elevated comfort food staples. One such dish was the Quail and Waffles. This take on the ubiquitous Southern mainstay chicken and waffles was exceptional. Both my wife and I ordered this dish for our appetizer. Who would think that quail would make a good substitute for chicken, but it was outstanding. The quail was deep fried to perfection. It was juicy and crispy. Those are two things I love in deep fried chicken. The waffles were off the charts good, as well. I really enjoyed the cherry maple syrup. It had such a great spiciness to it that countered the sweetness of the maple syrup.
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For our second course my wife had the 17 Summer Seasonal Salad and I had the Ceviche. The 17 Summer Seasonal Salad was made of Mesclun greens, candied pecans, goat cheese with a sherry honey vinaigrette. It was a solid salad. It was very tasty. I especially loved the lightness of the vinaigrette in addition to the candied pecans. My second course was another homerun. The Ceviche dish consisted of scallops and shrimp marinated in citrus. The fish was super fresh. I love ceviche, and I really love it when it is executed the way Chef Joseph did. The bright acidity of the citrus “cooked” the fish. And I must say it didn’t last too long on the plate.
For our third course, which was the main course of the dinner, my wife ordered the Seared Scallops and I decided on the Short Ribs. The Seared Scallops had miso glazed scallop with braised pork belly with a fennel and red onion salad. The scallops were great, but for me the star of the dish was the braised pork belly. The belly literally melted the moment it hit my mouth. It was sweet and salty, everything pork belly should be. The Short Ribs were slowly braised and served over caramelized onion mashed potatoes. The short ribs were tender and delicious. nd the caramelized onion mashed potatoes were out of this world. The caramelized onions mashed into the potatoes really made the dish unforgettable. I never had mashed potatoes like that before.
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The dessert of the evening was a duo of strawberry cheesecake and a chocolate cherry impression. Each component of the dessert was the perfect size. They each weren’t too big, but not too small either. The cheesecake was moist and creamy, the way a cheesecake is meant to be. The chocolate cherry impression was different. It reminded me of a chocolate Twinkie with a cherry filling. This impression was totally addictive. And with that our memorable dinner at 17 Summer drew to a close. We were happy, full and ready for a long winter’s nap.
If you’re looking for a skillfully executed and delicious tasting evening out, you should totally check out 17 Summer in Lodi. You can visit their website or call the restaurant to find out when the next chef’s tasting menu will be. Enjoy.
17 Summer
