Date Night in Westfield

Matt with his new hair cut and a glass of Mazza Chautauqua pinot grigio at Sapore in Westfield.


Picture of me with the same drink in the same place.

Our friend, Tim, had told us about the changeover of Cafe Barista to Sapore some time ago and we've been intrigued about this place on the other side of the county since. The weather cooperated yesterday and we made the trek for date night.

Matt ordered the braciole (fresh herbs and cheese rolled in tender beef pan seared and braised) with a side of roasted new potatoes and pisto (eggplant, Italian squash, zucchini, cippolini onion and garlic). He said he'd order it all again, and was especially happy with how good the pisto was since he's not a fan of eggplant. I ordered quiche that had ricotta cheese, spinach and swiss chard in it. My side was cornbread and sausage dressing. The quiche was light, but filling. I enjoyed the stuffing as well, but the flavors overpowered the quiche. I regretted not ordering a pumpkin dish as my side. Not to fear, the dressing tasted awesome when mixed with scrambled eggs this morning.

Uncharacteristically, we both ordered dessert. We went on our server's advice and ordered the house specialty, cheesecake. I had the mascarpone cheesecake that had a pecan crust while Matt had the chocolate mayan mascarpone cheesecake which had a macadamia crust. Matt had coffee while I splurged and ordered hot chocolate. The hot chocolate is made with milk and it tastes like the restaurant uses a darker milk chocolate. Comfort in a cup.

The restaurant retained much of the stripped down look of Cafe Barista with exposed brick walls, hardwood floors, rough wooden bar for the wine bar area. We decided to have an early dinner (5pm), so we had our pick of where to sit. There were 3 groups there when we arrived, and a mother/daughter group were the only new people that arrived before we left over an hour later. The quality of food merited a larger crowd, so we hope that it's just that winter slow down.