Date of Visit: May 17, 2006

Sienna’s Scrabble tile-like sign, simple yet elegant, just like Chef Ken Vedrinski’s Italian food.

This was one of the more stylish herb gardens I’ve seen, featuring basil, sage, and more, located just out the back door.

Sienna’s herbs weren’t limited to the fountain. They extended to this palm-studded field, also behind the restaurant.

With yellow walls and handsome wood decor, the space was an effective vessel for Vedrinski’s powerhouse cuisine.

This fresh-baked loaf of Italian bread was excellent with the high-class olive oil, but still several tiers below Chef Vedrinski’s beyond-incredible chive biscuits, which he served when the restaurant opened in 2004.

This paper cone of fritto misto featured succulent chunks of thickly-battered grouper, local white shrimp, asparagus, served wtih a dish of lemon olive oil emulsion.

Sienna Caesar salad, incorporating Sicilian white anchovies and parmesan “crostini.” The long romaine spears were bathed liberally in dressing, fantastic with the glorified crouton.

Magnificent roasted boneless Palmetto Farms quail “Salimbocca” topping fontina, duck prosciutto, and sage from the garden in back of the restaurant, along with folds of pasta.

Our pasta course led off with this luxurious parmesan gnocchi with pancetta, mushrooms, English peas, and truffle butter.

This fettuccini incorporated more of those delicious local white shrimp, cherry tomatoes, and more fresh-picked herbs.

These long pasta fingers are called strozzapretti, AKA priest stranglers, so named because priests were known to gorge on them until they could barely breathe. This version was topped with a heap of ground duck, tomato sauce, and herbs.

Angus beef in three preparations : filet topped with almost-caramelized King trumpet mushrooms, on a bed of mascarpone potato puree; braised short rib cannelloni with fontina and diced tomatoes on a bed of spinach; and scaloppine topped with melted gorgonzola and diced tomatoes, all poured with balsamic reduction. The melted gorgonzola sauce may have been overly rich, but the beef was impeccable, and the short rib and filet were beyond delicious. In Manhattan, this dish could command $50, and still be worth it. In this Charleston suburb: $24!

Apple strips in a flaky cinnamon pastry cup with vanilla ice cream and intense dried cherries cooked down with Chianti and chestnut honey

Clockwise from the top: chocolate chip ice cream, red currant sorbet, pistachio ice cream, and strawberry ice cream, all in thin candied cones. Strawberry was my favorite, made by folding roasted strawberries into vanilla ice cream.

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This entry is filed under Italian, South Carolina, The South.