Giovanni's on Oakwood in Detroit

The real boss of DetroitFood has yielded the floor for a moment.

Dinner at Giovanni's in Detroit tonight. It was wonderful, but...

I had the ravioli with boursin cheese and sun-dried tomatoes in a champagne cream sauce with crab. The sauce and crab were extraordinary, the sauce carrying the crab to an intense level, as good as these items get. Call it a crab-champagne-cream sauce. Alas, the pasta kind of disappeared in the sauce - I did not even really taste the cheese and tomato. The disappointment is that Giovanni's generally offers great pasta, but I didn't really get to enjoy it. The green salad with honey vinaigrette was just darn exciting. The vinegar and honey danced an energetic tango in my mouth. I loved it.

The other diners: I would not have guessed that salmon in tomato sauce would work. It worked. It worked, worked, worked. The veal in caper and lemon sauce was superb, the veal being perfectly cooked. I did not taste the perch in capers and lemon, but two of our party loved it. As always, the risotto was lovely, silky and flavorful.

What else? Um, the waitress was nice, enthusiastic, cheerful, attentive. She wasn't very experienced here and it showed.

Don't get me wrong - Giovanni's is always a treat. But, for the first time in a long time, it wasn't perfect. We'll be back.