Sorella feast follows cat-sitting favor
A Milwaukee writer cat-sat for friends, who repaid him with dinner at Sorella. They shared wood-roasted broccoli and a pork chop with peppers.
Cat-sitting for friends' three cats resulted in a reciprocal dinner at Sorella restaurant in Bay View which explores Italian food and community. The writer and his wife, Shelby, cared for cats named Frank, Stella, and Penny while friends Kyle and Kaylee Pieczynski-Bast traveled to Italy, a country with a famous cat colony at Rome's Largo di Torre Argentina.
Friends Kyle and Kaylee later treated the couple to dinner at Sorella, which means sister in Italian. The restaurant is owned by Chef Kyle Toner and Paul Damora and describes itself as a meeting point between old school and new school, East Coast and Midwest.
A Summer Night On The Patio
The group sat on the patio on a summer evening. The writer began with a cocktail of mezcal, Montenegro, ginger, and lime. They ordered from the Antipasti menu.
The Mussels Oreganata were prepared with butter, garlic, lemon, oregano, parsley, and breadcrumbs. The Wood-Roasted Broccoli was cooked with apricot, chile, and almonds. The writer noted the broccoli might have been everyone's favorite appetizer.
The Main Courses
For entrees, Kyle ordered the Seafood Bucatini, which contained shrimp, scallops, calamari, cod, and a garlic white wine sauce. He later assessed it as super delicious.
Kaylee split two pastas: the Rigatoni alla Vodka and the Cavatelli with Monday Sauce, the latter featuring a broken meatball, sausage and pork ragù and ricotta. She said the vodka sauce was creamy and delicious, perfect, exactly what I was looking for.
Shelby ordered a roasted salmon special served with an arugula salad.
The writer ordered the Duroc Pork Chop, a 14-ounce bone-in pork ribeye. It was served with hot and sweet cherry peppers and roasted garlic. He stated the real star was the oily, stewed pepper mixture, which reminded him of peperonata.
The Menu And The Moment
Sorella's menu includes salads, antipasti, pastas, wood-fired pizzas, and secondi like Chicken Parmigiana. Desserts include cannoli and tiramisu.
The writer reflected that the best part of the meal was sharing it with close friends. He wrote that with the right people, friends can start to feel a whole lot like family.
The report concluded by connecting the act of cat-sitting to community. The writer suggested being good to friends, helping with their cats, and noted such kindness might lead to a good meal, much like the shared experience detailed in the fixtures of life.
A Note On Italian Cats
The source included a postscript about cats in Italy. It stated domestic cats descend largely from African wildcats, with the earliest known European cat found in Sardinia, Italy around 2,200 years ago.
It highlighted the famous cat colony at Largo di Torre Argentina in Rome, an archaeological site where stray cats live, cared for by volunteers called gattare. The writer included this section because the friends' trip to Italy inspired the cat-sitting arrangement, a small act that builds the standings of friendship.
