Francesca's al Lago

On Thursday evening we stopped into Francesca's al Lago for a quick dinner. Francesca's is a chain of restaurants that started in Chicago and which opened it's first restaurant in downtown Madison last year. They have a gluten free menu with a fair number of choices, including dessert and carry gluten free pasta which is a corn/quinoa blend. Francesca's has a large bar area with a good wine list and is a fun location for meeting friends and then possibly grabbing a bite to eat after.

After trying the pizza at Greenbush Bar recently, I was left wanting for some good pasta and so I ordered a pasta dish with scallops, mushrooms and asparagus in a cherry tomato sauce. The dish was listed as a shrimp dish but apparently the restaurant does not stock shrimp (at least not the night I was there) because this menu item is not listed on the regular menu and so I was offered scallops as a substitution.

There certainly was a lot of pasta and except for the fact that it was broken up, it was cooked well as was the overall dish. Although, the meal was not particularly exciting, it was hearty and about what you would expect. The service was good and the meal arrived quickly. I was quite full after eating this gigantic bowl of pasta and did not have room for dessert, but would expect that it would have been about the same - satisfactory, but nothing particularly exciting. I'm certainly still in the market for a good Italian restaurant in Madison that can cater to a gluten free diet. So far the leader of the pack seems to be Biaggi's which is another restaurant chain that also has a gluten free menu and is located in Middleton. Other ideas welcome!