All chefs know that salt is not an ingredient, it is a balancer; it is not designed to create flavor, it is designed to extract existing flavors or balance them out; everyone knows balance is the key to life, to much of anything can make a good thing go bad, but maybe they didn’t know this concept at Tutto Fresco in Wilmington, Delaware.

My night always starts off great when the parking is free and the traffic on your way to the restaurant is light, and to boot I have worked out earlier in the day, so eating pasta for dinner doesn’t seem like that much of a heavy-hitter on my calorie count that day. With “balance” being the word of the day, I decide to order the risotto with shrimp, scallops, mussels, & clams, and when it arrived it looked absolutely gratifying, the risotto appeared as creamy as a good risotto should be, so without further a do, I slid my fork in, and when it hit my mouth I tasted the brackish taste of alkaline that completed inundated my tastebuds…simply put the risotto was extremely SALTY; so much so I had to douse my mouth with water, then without further delay send the risotto back.

Being despondent, yet still being famished I decided to order the “classico,” which was the spaghetti with meatballs and italian sausage. When this bowl was presented to me I don’t think I had ever seen so much sauce on a spaghetti before in my life, but it was all balanced out with the massive meatballs and large pieces of sausage, but everyone knows bigger is not always better, I mean after all this is Delaware not Texas. Now the taste of the spaghetti was certainly not unappetizing, but neither was it delectable and left over worthy either.

In every situation it is always imperative to find a silver lining, and my cousin said she found that lining in her plate of fettucini with shrimp and scallops, a simple dish she said, but very delectable. She stated that all the ingredients blended together perfectly and the alfredo sauce had the perfect level of creaminess which is always important.

So had it not been for the delight I experienced from watching my cousin eat and the bread the server brought to the table that looked like and tasted like pizza this whole eating experience would have been a complete bust.

Whoever said bread is the super food I guess were only speaking of the rolls maybe not the risotto, especially when they speak of Tutto Fresco.