Restaurant Review! Nick's Italian in Mcminnville

I'm back!

I know blogging is dead and this should be on facebook or twitter or tumblr but I don't care. This is a good venue because no one will ever read it, this is entirely for my own amusement.

On to the review! Ken the winemaker was kind enough to take Tim and I out to an end of harvest lunch at Nick's Italian in Mcminnville. I'd certainly heard of Nick's, as it's been there since 1977, but never seem to end up at mid range Italian places, I guess figuring if I'm spending money it should be on something I can't easily replicate at home like sushi or Thai. Nick's proved me wrong. I have cooked a lot of mussels in my life, a lot of different ways but the mussels at Nick's blew me away. For around $12 we got about 20 big, plump, soft mussels in a delightful red broth. I wanted to drink it right out of the bowl but settled for dunking copious amounts of bread. We all guessed on the ingredients and pretty much settled on ripe tomatoes cooked way down with garlic and shallots, then butter, red wine and parsley. But there was a mystery taste none of us could name. Tim suggested saffron, maybe that was it. Certainly the highlight and it went great with my 09 Amity Pinot Noir.
Everything else was good but not standout. We started with the bread and oil, cheap at $2. Tasty, fruity oil, lots of house baked bread, but just spongy white loaf, nothing too special. After the mussels we had a caeser salad. Totally solid and good sized but a little bland, I like more lemony, fishy flavor. Ken and I both got pizzas, I chose the chantrelle, bechamel, spinach and salami. Good but I didn't love it. I traded a slice with Ken and his gorgonzola, pear and arugula was much more to my liking, I would order that one next time. I tried a bite of Tim's lasagna and was confused. Lots of pine nuts and a strong citrus flavor, like lemon zest. Not for me.
I will certainly be back, the rest of the menu looks intriguing and we hear the owners are opening a charcuterie a few blocks away.