Under the Tuscan Dawn: Dinner at Aurora

In Frances Mayes' memoir Under the Tuscan Sun, she writes in awe of "the utter simplicity and dignity of Tuscan food!"  This, too, can also be said of the Tuscan fare at Aurora in Rye.  Led by Chef de Cuisine Marcio Carvalho and Executive Chef Albert DeAngelis, Aurora shows-off Italian foods' natural beauty with expert mastery.

After working as Chef at famed Chez Josephine–owned by the son of Josephine Baker–DeAngelis is now the head Chef at a family of five Mediterranean-inspired restaurants, including Terra of Greenwich, Mediterraneo of Greenwich, Sole of New Canaan, Acqua of Westport, and Aurora of Rye.

Lit by candles, the trattoria's dining room had a gauzy glow like Homer's "rosy-fingered" dawn.  Classical figure sculptures adorned the walls, and the ceiling's vaulted arches added an aura of grandeur, as though one were dining–or worshipping–in a Roman temple.  Aurora's Mediterranean flare seemed to take precedence from the start–the warm focaccia bread, sprinkled with sea salt, was accompanied by garlic and olive oil humus.

For an appetizer, my dinner companions and I split a pizza margherita ($10).  Even though we sat at a window table overlooking Purchase Street, we could see that the pizza was made fresh-to-order in the wood-burning brick oven at the back of the restaurant. The thin-crust pizza–sprinkled with basil–was crispy, and its mozzarella was still bubbling when it reached our table.  My friend, who had recently lived in Italy, remarked that the margherita tasted like it was from a Florentine street-side pizzeria.

From garganelli to penne rigate, Aurora's menu has an array of homemade pasta dishes.  Drawn to the Tuscan vibe, I tasted the potato gnocchi ($14).  In Italian, gnocchi can be roughly translated as "lumps," yet these gnocchi were anything but lumpy.  Airy as feather pillows, the plump gnocchi were lightly dressed in a tomato basil sauce.  My friend tried the cavatelli pasta served with braised duck, prosciutto, and crushed tomato ($16).  The duck was juicy and the pasta, she said, was the freshest that she had ever tasted.

The knockout entrée of the evening was the angel hair pasta with mixed shellfish, spicy pomodoro, capers, and arugula ($16).  The shellfish turned out to be a vibrant mélange of muscles, shrimp, scallops, and vongole clams–all perfectly cooked.  Unlike some Italian dishes where the pasta drowns in sauce, the angel hair was delicately tossed in the pomodoro and arugula.

I had to sample the restaurant's namesake dessert, Tiramisu Aurora ($7).  The Italian cake's espresso-dipped ladyfinger layers were small in proportion to the puffy mascarpone that tasted as though it had been whipped merely minutes before serving.  Served with a sprig of mint and fresh blueberries on a plate decorated with raspberry and custard cream, the tiramisu was easily a portion for two.  The Tuscan Bread Pudding ($8)–in a glossy pool of caramel sauce and dollop of whipped cream–was a far cry from the traditional peasant's fare made with stale bread.  This amped-up version could be proudly served to Tuscany's–or Rye's–finest dignitaries.  The piping hot pudding had a cake-like consistency–moist and spongy–and was richly flavored with cinnamon, almost like refined French toast.  The caramel was no afterthought, but instead, saturated the bread with a subdued sweetness.  

Aurora delivers rustic and traditional cuisine in the elegance of an upscale Italian bistro.  Whether a family gathering or intimate rendezvous, dining at Aurora is sure to awaken your senses to the aromas and flavors of Tuscany.