Food find: Brass Brewery and Restaurant

Everyone needs a girls' night. I had the pleasure of meeting some of my ladies this week for a dinner and dish date at Brass Brewery and Restaurant in Barrington. It's quite the classy place with a decor of exposed brick, oversized black velvet curtains diving the room and dark wood throughout. There's also an open kitchen where you can see the staff hussle to get your plate together.

They brought us out a rosemary and salt foccacia, which was a little more puffy and not as chewy as I'm used to, but still quite delicious. Any they were generous with the bread too, but I wish they would have included a few slices when they packaged up our leftovers.

We had a spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer, which came with toasted pita chips that were obviously made on site. They were thick and a little oily, but quite delicious with the dip. I liked the dip because it had sundried tomatoes in the hot cheesy dip, but it tasted like it might have Velveeta in it. I prefer spinach dips with more traditional cheeses, although I loved the tang of the generous helping of Parmesan.

For an entree, I ordered the pasta rigatoni, which was the special of the evening for $14 in vegetarian style, although I suspect the $22 price listed on the menu includes chicken. It's rigatoni with fresh veggies such as asparagus, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes. They were roasted and perhaps steamed as well before being tossed with a vodka sauce and pasta.

I loved the dish because the veggies retained their individual crispness and flavor despite the prep. The vodka sauce wasn't your typical sauce, either. It was smokey and perhaps included pan drippings from the roasted veggies.

The whole meal was delicious, even the leftovers. Although the prices are a bit high for everyday, the food justifies it, in my opinion.