Cooking Class at Armondo's

Today I spent a few hours attending "A Night in Tuscany" cooking class in Renton's very own Armondo's restaurant located at the corner of Houser and Wells. The class was in conjunction with Renton Technical College but we learned because of budgetary cuts these type of classes have been cut. Too bad.....all of us attendees had a fun time and ate some delicious food and sipped good wine. We started off with with Armondo himself instructing us in the kitchen of the restaurant. That was fun for me because I am fascinated on how restuarants operate and all the behind the scene sequence that makes up a finished dish. Armondo had prepped several parts of the dishes he prepared due to time limitation but he walked us through each and every recipe he made. We started off with Sage Leaf Rolls. He next prepared Ravioli Gnudi which is a "naked" ravioli without pasta. Seems unlikely but it was delicious! The next dish was a bean, tuna, red onion and celery leaf salad. Next on the menu was a Caprese salad consisting of just fresh mozzarella cheese, oven baked roma tomatoes and drizzle of balsamic vinegar. The main course item was Stracooto al Chianti Classico (which is beef with red wine, pine nuts, raisins, currants and several other wonderful ingredients). We also were treated to several tastes of a variety of Chianti wines while Armondo explained the labeling on Italian wines. We ended the day with the wonderful Ripassa Valpolicella wine that was one of the best wines I've ever tasted! Armondo told us that you could purchase the wine at the QFC in the Highland's and I might just have to do that! Salute! Visit Armondo's at http://www.armondos.com/