Ravioli with chicken liver sauce in Cincinnati

A business trip brought me to Cincinnati today where like all business trips we are pressed for time. It's almost noon and we have a meeting that starts a 1pm. At the foot of the hotel where the meeting was taking place there was some swanky but small bar / grill and when we approached the entrance we were turned away because they were at capacity. Those who know me know I get grumpy when shit like that happens. So, we keep walking and a block and a half away we quickly entered the first eatery we see. It could have been a biker bar and we wouldn't have hesitated to walk in that's how hungry we were. Scotti's Italian restaurant would be the name of this place and from reading some of the history on the menu it's been around a hundred years. I would not contest it, there were candles on every table that looked like they have been collecting wax for that long. So we are greeted by the only person in the dining room and I swear it was something out of the Soprano's. My boss couldn't understand the dialect but I quickly recognized that the guy was speaking in a sort of NY but in the Rocky tone of voice accent. We explained our urgency, he asked, " how long you got?" 40 min my boss answered. "Ah, you'll be alright", he said. We were definitely amused! I'll get right down to it. The menu was pick a pasta and then pick a sauce. That was it, nothing else! My boss ordered the ravioli with a chicken liver tomato sauce. I decided since we were in a hurry that I'd be better ordering the same thing as to not complicate shit. Now the food was just decent the sauce was authentic and meaty in flavor, very well done and without all the heaviness that a sauce like that may come with. There were so many pieces of liver that it almost took away from the ravioli which is really the centerpiece of his dish. My boss decided to use the restroom which was down in the basement and when he came up he described it perfectly. He said, " that it looked like the kind of place wise guys came to either become made men or get whacked. I mean chest freezers and all. The whole decor was freaking me out with this mosaic of broken junk tiles all over the wall to the dusty hanging wicker wine bottles on the ceiling. This place was literally a hole in the wall, a dive! I'm glad I came though because it was quite he experience and a pretty cool story. Would I come again? I hope so I'd like to try something different on the menu, but it would be the creepy atmosphere brining me back for sure!

http://scottiscincinnati.com/