La Stanza Diva

(Originally posted 4/13/06)

I finally made it here last evening. We arrived at 5pm and had no trouble getting seated. Even by 6pm, you would not have had trouble getting a seat. It could just be because it is Easter weekend though.

The place is very kitschy looking, with Xmas decorations, Japanese lanterns, Italian wine bottles, women's shoes and all sorts of other strange decorations. It definitely has its own unique style. The menus are Xerox copies of a handwritten menu and you receive a handful of pages, with a multitude of different choices. You could spend alot of time reviewing all the possible options. There are two basic choices, Italian or exotic meats.

To get a better idea of the various types of foods, we decided to order one Italian meal and a bunch of appetizers. As they are a BYOB place, we brought our own bottle of Barolo. The corkage fee is only $2 for a bottle of wine or a sixpack of beer. Hard alcohol is not permitted. As we drank some wine, and reviewed the menu, the waitress brought some bread with a dish of balsamic vinegar and some herbs.

We began our meal with escargot, atop bread with mushrooms and garlic. It was a plentiful plate and the escargot were large, tender and tasty. We soon learned that all of the food is very plentiful. The baked Pecorino was a dish of melted cheese topped with walnuts and honey, with a side of bread to ladle the cheese atop. This was superb! A fine, delectable cheese nicely complemented by the honey and walnuts. Highly recommended! The house salad special was topped with walnuts and gorgonzola cheese and contained a plethora of fresh veggies, from tomatoes, carrots, romaine lettuce, chick peas and more. Again, it was a sizeable dish. The lobster bisque was very different from many I have had before. It was far less cream based and more almost stock based. But, it too was delicious, nicely seasoned and with a decent portion of fresh lobster meat in it. I would definitely order it again. The grilled shrimps were in a garlic sauce topped with herbs and tomatoes. The shrimp were huge, tender and tasty. Another excellent dish. Then we went for the exotic, kangaroo in a port sauce atop polenta. The polenta was firm, corn bread-like and very good, absorbing the delicious port sauce. The kangaroo was a good sized piece of meat, without a bit of fat on it. It was tender, with a consistency more like ostrich than beef. It had its own distinctive flavor and we both enjoyed it. I would definitely order that again. I note that this was the first time I had ever had kangaroo.

The entree we ordered was veal saltimbocco, cutlets with prosciutto and melted cheese. The plate was enormous, with plenty of food. The masala sauce was excellent, a light sauce that accented well the food. The veal was a bit tough though still tasty. And we had plenty to take him afterwards.

Though fairly full, we decided to try dessert, the chef's homemade tiramisu. And it was worth ordering. A large portion of tiramisu with four mounds of whipped cream surrounding it. The tiramisu was scrumptious though I would have preferred real whipped cream than what seemed to be canned cream.

Service was generally very good, though the dishes came too close together timewise. I had asked for them to be spread out more but the chef churned out the dishes a bit too quickly. Prices were reasonable, especially considering the amount of food you receive. I will definitely go back here and would recommend it to others as well. It is certainly not a fancy place, but more a down to earth place where you can gorge yourself on Italian and exotic game.

La Stanza Diva
315 Main Street
Woburn, MA
Phone: (781) 935-3088
http://www.cheflynne.com