Just the description made me shiver, and it had the same effect on others. It was as if the very words themselves formed a hand that plunged itself into your chest and squeezed your heart, making it beat faster...

I wasn't the only person at the table who had to read the description again...

And if anything, the second reading was more potent, now you have an idea what to expect and your brain is trying hard to summon the concept of those flavors...and is overwhelmed.

Wait though, I get ahead of myself...dessert, comes last.

Nicola's Italian Restaurant, or Nicola's in the Market as it is listed in some places, is a nice little Italian food restaurant in the Omaha Old Market district. (By the way, that's nih-KOHL-uhs).

The menu is smaller than the wine list (which is one of my basic measurements for how good a wine list is, so this is a good thing). The decor is simple and out of the way, kind of a nice trim you may or may not notice since the real display is on the table.

Nicola's hasn't married itself to the concept so many Italian American restaurants have that portions must be ridiculously large for it to be Italian. Instead, Nicola's serves an excellent portion size for you to enjoy an appetizer, salad, entree and dessert.

Gone are the non-Italian items that litter so many menus in Italian food places these days, and this is especially true of the appetizer menu. Which consists of a few different varieties of Antipasto. On this night, we tried the Antipasto Rustico, featuring a broad, thin slice of genoa salami with buffalo mozzarella, roma tomato, cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, calamata olives and a shard of asiago cheese. Also we had an appetizer featuring a piece of cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto and covered in shaved asiago. Both were just excellent.

The salad came out next, a simple small house salad of baby greens with a thin, sweet vinaigrette dressing.

Finally, my entree.

Now, I love shrimp scampi. The garlic, butter, herbs, the plump juicy shrimp...decadent. However, my favorite part is that squeeze of lemon on top that mixes its acidity and tart/sweet flavor with all of those other flavors to just make them sing in your mouth.

So, you'd think that looking down at a plate of shrimp scampi stuffed ravioli, I would be missing that lemon. But, you'd be wrong, because Nicola's in their infinite Italian Food wisdom serves it in a lemon cream sauce. It was absolutely as good as it sounds. The fact that it was topped with additional jumbo shrimp just makes it that much more, Oh My God.

I savored each and every bite, washed down with a glass of Danzante Pinot Grigio, which added a sharp, tart kick to the sweet lemon cream and shrimp.

While I looked around in curiosity at the Spinach Stuffed Ravioli, Lobster Ravioli and Fettuccine Alfredo of my dinner companions, I never once felt like I had ordered anything but the perfect choice on the menu.

The Roma tomato and olive oil Bruschetta it was served with was also a very nice, true Italian touch to the meal.

All in all, a great experience at Nicola's.

Oh wait...Dessert, that's what started this off. The greatest and best dessert in the world's...tribute. The dessert where the description alone set your mind awander and awonder (are those even words? ...they are in the world of dessert descriptions at least).

Even now, only a few days removed from my dining experience, the exact wording of the dessert has faded. Almost as if, you reach a level of understanding in the presence of the dessert, but once removed from it's glory are left to merely wonder what the words were exactly...

But, it went something like this. Kahlua and Walnut Brownie with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, a warm brownie with toasted walnuts on top drizzled in a warm Kahlua sauce with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. shiver

Those words set us on the journey, they touched off a whirlwind of culinary adventure in the mind's eye. They brought about a feeling of euphoric foodie delight. With great anticipation and expectation, we placed our order for the greatest and best dessert in the world.

They were out of it...

Yeah, no more brownies that night, go figure. *shrugs*

However, my Vanilla Cannoli was great. The Tiramisu and White Chocolate Raspberry Cheese Cake also received rave reviews. Someday though...someday the brownie will be mine. Then it too can be, What Greg Eats.