My Dining Experience:  I was seated at my table by Reggie Osila, the Operations Manager.  A nice guy, we talked about the cuisine and the general feel of the room and he told me what to expect as the night unfolded because they were fully booked that evening.  My waitress was Vivian Tie, who approached my table with a beautiful smile and asked me if I wanted something to drink.  I asked her to bring me a half bottle of Bollinger Special Cuvee Champagne to enjoy during the first half of my meal.  As she walked away I admired her hair, which is long, straight, and full, extending well below her waist.  Another waitress, Aileen brought the Champagne, opened it, and poured a glass for me.  Ladies are dressed in medium length black washed silk dresses, which are very attractive.  Enjoying my Champagne I observed the table setting.  Stainless steel flatware is by Robert Welch, designed by William Welch, and is very comfortable to hold and use.  Chinaware is a nice, clean and simple white design by Rene Ozorio, the Aura series from Thailand.  Glassware is my favorite Zwiesel 1872.  The tablecloth is actual white linen, with matching napkins made in China.  Salt and pepper grinders are appropriately black and white by Alessi of Italy.  A chrome caddy is on the table with bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and 2 slots for little butter dishes.  A small round white candle in a glass container provides a glow on the table.  At my request, Vivian brought a half bottle of 2003 Marques de Riscal Rioja Reserva, a fine tempranillo from Spain, and opened it so it could breathe for later.  Also, she poured some sparkling water from Scotland.  I had a talk with the restaurant manager, Roberto Pettinau, about the new menu and some options for my consideration.  Together we arrived at a decision as to what would be a good 4-course dinner to give me a clear understanding of the restaurant’s talents and capabilities.  Vivian brought a tradition Italian bread called faccacia that looked like pizza without a topping and 2 kinds of butter, garlic with olive oil and sundried tomato.  I spread those on the bread while it was hot and ate it with my Champagne.  It smelled very good and the 2 kinds of butter offered different flavors to start my dining experience.  We were off to a good start, with great wines on the table.  Next, Vivian brought my first course, which was Rustic foie gras with William pear parmigiano & walnut salad & honey mustard sauce with handcrafted sourdough bread.  She was followed by Chef de Cuisine, Marino D’Antonio from Italy, who explained to me how it was prepared.  3 slices of foie gras were cooked in a vacuum bag with salt, sugar, and Amaretto di Sarona.  The pear was arranged in 3 layered slices with walnuts, dried fig, and parmigiano and served with honey mustard sauce and 2 slices of sourdough bread.  A cold dish, the foie gras had a drizzling of olive oil over it and was very tasty, and the pear salad was an excellent cool accompaniment, and provided the sweetness to the fois gras that I usually accomplish with a sweet wine.  The foie gras was also good on the sourdough bread.  I followed all this with the Champagne.  Vivian then brought my second course, called Langosta a la Catalana, which is Catalan style lobster salad, warm potatoes, cherry tomatoes, onion & Spanish olives.  Chef Marino explained that he boiled the lobster, then cooked the potatoes, garlic, and olive oil in a fish stock until reduced, and after the pot cooled from hot to warm, he added the lobster, blanched plum tomatoes, olives, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Greens were mazuna, sunny, and red oak lettuce with extra virgin olive oil.  Some stripes of squid ink were on the plate for color and a little sea salt scattered around.  The potatoes were sliced about 1/8 inch thick, then cut in half, the olives were sliced, and the olive oil was drizzled all over the plate so I could dip anything in it.  I squeezed fresh lemon over everything, mixed it all together, and ate it with my Champagne.  This was a refreshing summer salad and quite substantial in volume.  These dishes fit the intended role of the restaurant as casual fine dining where you can just come in, have a couple of dishes and a glass of wine and relax with a friend, and at a little after 9 PM on a Wednesday, the restaurant was packed with no empty tables except the semi-private dining room.  There were lots of people having lots of fun, including myself.  My friend Vivian brought the third course from the wood-fired grill, Branzino in salt crust with organic lemon and extra virgin olive oil, with a side order of Cannellini beans in napolitano pomodoro ragout.  The wine for this course is the half bottle of Spanish wine from the Rioja Valley mentioned earlier, another of my favorite kinds of wine.  The fish is seabass from Dalian, a city known for its good seafood.  Chef Marino explained that the fish is cleaned and filleted, and the fillets are coated with olive oil and thyme and placed in the pan skin side up to resist some of the salt flavor that will come from the crust.  The crust over the fish is a simple meringue made from egg whites and sea salt with lemon slices on top.  This assembly is placed in the oven and baked for 12 minutes at 180 degrees C.  Vivian scraped the crust off the fish with a fish knife and served the 2 fillets on my warm plate with the lemon slices.  This smelled fantastic and the fish was moist and tender and I ate some with the skin on and some without.  Either way was good, but normally I go without the skin and it peeled off easily with the fish fork provided to me.  The Cannellini beans looked like a bowl of American baked beans, but were cooked less and not so soft.  It was a good accompaniment to the fish and added a lot of variety to the taste of the fish alone.  The soft red wine liked the sauce on the beans.  My final course was the classic Tiramisu for dessert, which is called TmSU Experience.  The dessert menu is a mini version of the regular menu.  Chef Marino explained how this simple Tiramisu is made, with mascarpone imported from Italy, egg, expresso, Amaretto di Sarona, and sugar.  The Tiramisu was very moist and cool and the coating of expresso powder on top added a bit of bitter sweet.  A good dessert and a good finish for a nice dinner.  Now it was time for the Irish Coffee made by Reggie the way I like it, and served by Vivian with 4 little cookies.  I enjoyed this final part of my evening and had a nice closing conversation with Vivian.  In closing, Chef Marino D’Antonio is a really nice guy and a good chef for this casual fine dining setting.  I believe he fits the intent of the restaurant concept designers exactly.  I loved the combination of flavors in his very simple dishes and they tasted so good!  I like this restaurant and I expect I will come back often to try the rest of the menu and enjoy the excellent value for price ratio.  All together, it was a very good night.  Thank you Vivian for doing a great job serving me and many thanks to the rest of the staff and management of SURENO for providing me with a truly memorable evening.  I hope to be back soon.

With Happiness, CHEERS!

My Best as Always,

Randy