By Gloria Glyer
Photography by Alexis Ervin

This upscale food shop provides great tastes for diners on the go.

Ever since Masque Ristorante opened its doors in the stylish La Borgata shopping complex in El Dorado Hills, people have asked: When will the Divas dine there? We responded with: When will Masque do lunch? Masque’s answer: Maybe someday.

Not wanting to wait, we decided to sample some of the offerings at Masque Cantinetta, a casual takeout and wine shop attached to the restaurant. We reserved the private dining room, and special-events staffer Laura Styler made sure we had runners to bring us our food.

Diva Joan Leineke and I arrived early to order and to peruse the shelves of exotic oils and vinegars, salts and peppers, pastas and biscotti, wines and cocktail mixes. What’s available in the prepared-food cases changes frequently, depending on the season. Some of the items were conveniently bite-size, which made it easy to order: 10 of each, please. The cherry-sized peppers filled with cheese and seasoned with onion were beauties to behold and to consume—perfect to just pop in the mouth.

Our selections: duck salad; calamari with fennel; arlecchino (harlequin) pasta salad; Colombina salad with chicken, Gorgonzola, greens and Italian dressing; shrimp and cauliflower (honest) with a light vinegar and oil dressing and just a dash of finely chopped red pepper; caponata (an eggplant concoction that varies from chef to chef); breaded almond chicken; and golden beets with fresh mozzarella.

Of the five available pizzas, we ordered two: the Nikki, topped with housemade pork and fennel sausage, tomato sauce, mozzarella and broccoli rabe; and the Pantalone, with chicken and Gorgonzola. And we selected two panini: the Caponata (grilled vegetables, pine nuts, smoked mozzarella and oregano pesto) and the Mr. T (roasted peppers, prosciutto and fontina cheese).

Desserts, which are made in-house, included a lemon tart topped with a perfect swirl of lightly browned meringue; chocolate espresso torte; pumpkin tart; bread pudding with caramel sauce; nut tart; two types of cheesecake; and carrot cake. In typical Diva fashion, we bravely tried them all.

Do order a pizza or two—or three. The crust is oh-so-thin and the toppings generous and flavorful. Anything with caponata—salad or panino—is a taste treat.

The surprise salad was the shrimp and cauliflower: The shrimp were very fresh and the cauliflower, which had been blanched gently, was al dente. Another treat was the golden beet salad with thin slices of mozzarella. The beets were straightforward, with no masking of flavors—just beets, perfect for those who relish the root vegetable.

Although the almond chicken sounded like it had possibilities, it was a poor choice: The breading was light and the chicken had been pounded very thin, but it was bland and flavorless. Another unappealing dish was the calamari, which had an off-putting taste.

All the desserts were attractive, but my favorite was the carrot cake, which was moist, with enough crumb to make you think of homemade. The lemon tart with its hat of swirled meringue was the perfect combination of tart lemon and sweet meringue.

Angelo Auriana is Masque’s executive chef and co-owner, and his partner, Nicola Rivieccio, is on hand to help with wine selection—or anything else the diner desires.

Diva by Diva

Leineke conferred with Rivieccio to choose wines, deciding on a Credi Prosecco di Valdobbiadini to open the repast with something sparkly, and a pair of Sicilian wines for the rest of the meal: Altavilla Della Corte Chardonnay and Chiaramonte Nero D’Avola red. “I was surprised at how good the Sicilian wines were after a not-too-pleasant wine experience we had at another local restaurant,” said Leineke. She enjoyed both panini and the bread pudding, which she called good and not at all predictable.

Paulette Bruce-Miller thinks Masque is definitely worth the drive from Sacramento—or even San Francisco. The panini, she said, are “the real deal,” and she commended the flavor of the golden beet salad. She also gave a thumbs-up to the lemon tart, but not the calamari: “Needs some work,” she commented.

For the rest of this story pick up a copy of Sacramento magazine's March issue.

This article appears in the March 2005 issue of Sacramento Magazine.