FEB 25 / 2002

That's Aroma! That's Quality

It had been several years since I last dined at "That's Aroma!", located at 11010 - 101 Street. However Jana and I had been helping our friend, Jim, move some furniture; and we all decided to go out for dinner.

That's Aroma! is essentially an Italian pasta house which focuses strongly on garlic. Service is friendly and accommodating, and the decor is pleasant and cozy, with a garlic theme throughout.

However it was the cuisine itself that was superb. We decided to share two appetizers between the three of us. One was a Coconut Seafood Ensemble, and the other was Stuffed Mushroom Caps.

The Coconut Seafood consisted of shrimp, scallops, mussels, freshwater fish, onions and mushrooms in a rich coconut cream sauce. It was delicious. Despite the distinctive and flavorful sauce, one could easily taste the different fruits of the sea.

The dish was creamy and mellow and most enjoyable. Perhaps it would make a great entree over penne or angel hair.

The Stuffed Mushrooms were caps stuffed with bacon and onions baked in a simple cream sauce with lots of cheese. They, too were thoroughly enjoyable. Jana, who normally doesn't touch mushrooms, had no qualms about digging into these little treasures.

For the main course, we all selected pasta dishes. Jim went for the Cannelloni Pomodoro, which was homemade rolled pasta stuffed with veal and baked in tomato sauce.

Both Jim and Jana were totally in love with the cannelloni. Although a simple and traditional Italian dish, That's Aroma's version was indeed quite outstanding.

Jana, a true garlic lover, ordered the Garlic Pasta. It was simply linguine tossed with chicken and garlic herb butter. Yet it was one of the most garlic intense dishes I've ever tasted.

Copious amounts of chicken and linguini radiated pure garlic. Yet as strong and intense as the garlic was, it was surprisingly not overpowering. The intensity was in the flavor, not the effects.

Jana's Garlic Pasta would have been my favorite, had it not been for the Capellini Oriental that I had ordered. This was the best pasta dish I've had in a very long time.

Angel hair pasta was laden with chicken, shrimp, red and green bell peppers, onions and (of course) garlic in a delightful oyster sauce. Once again, there were copious amounts of everything.

My Capellini Oriental was the most subtle and rich of the three dishes. Jana's was a garlic sensation and Jim's cannelloni was just pure good Italian cuisine. We had oodles of fun continually tasting each other's meals and making absolute fools of ourselves.

The wine list is apparently changing soon; but we ordered a nice Fabiano Pinot Noir at a quite reasonable price. Any restaurant that can have some decent wine without charging the moon gets special mention.

The three of us were so full, we had to share but one dessert. Although I was curious to try the Tira Misu, we settled on a black and white chocolate torte which very nicely topped off a great meal.

The cost of the dinner for three of us, complete with wine, appetizers, entrees, the one dessert, coffee and a few drinks before dinner was still under $100.00. Non of the pasta dishes we ordered was more than $11.95.

BEST POINTS:
Super pasta dishes, great appetizers.

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT:
Although friendly and accommodating, our server tended to forget to bring our earlier aperitifs, as well as the wine. I hope they don't change the wine list too much!

RATING CATEGORY:
The last time I reviewed That's Aroma! I gave it a 7.5 out of 10. This time it gets bumped up to 8.5. A lot of people talk of this place as one of their favorites. I can see why.