Can you really blame a wine blogger for the excessive use of superlatives when they come across a dish that is the Platonic embodiment of a manifest fantasy?

Well, that’s what happened when I had dinner last month at one of my favorite restaurants — really, one of my favorite places on earth.

Usually, I ask owner and sommelier extraordinary Anthony, my good friend, to make a menu for us. But my friend Adam had been talking about the veal parmigiana — “veal parm” — all day in anticipation of our dinner there.

Our meal began with a Swiss-chard spaghetti alla puttanesca and then was followed by the veal, drowning in cheese and tomato, above.

Hyperbole aside, the food at Manducatis is excellent imho, in the sense that, beyond its wholesomeness and deliciousness, it captures a moment in time. Just like a song.

I don’t need to remind you that Anthony’s wine cellar is one of the most exciting Italian-focused programs in the country. I’m talking to you: lovers of old Nebbiolo, old Sangiovese and old Italian Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and even old Bordeaux, as I recently discovered.

It’s perhaps the only top-of-the-line list in the country that is ordered alphabetically. You don’t go to Anthony to drink “Italian regions.” You go to Anthony to drink iconic, rare, and aged. It’s nothing short of a fantasy fulfilled for this wine blogger. And the prices remain exceedingly reasonable.

As my year in blogging winds down, I just had to give one more shoutout to Anthony and Brendan, the floor sommelier whose deft hand has never met a crumbly cork he cannot conquer.

Thank you, Manducatis, for another night to remember. I can’t wait to see you again next year. G-d bless.