The artichoke appetizer had gone awry and came second, but it was worth the wait--boiled to semi-baby-food consistency and with the season's first fava beans. (They stole the show.) I ended with a whole grilled fish and, at the urging of two guys at the next table, Paradiso's prize dessert, sponge cake with dried fruit and sweetened ricotta cheese.
We followed the suggestion of our knowledgeable server and chose the roasted kohlrabi-turnip soup (with horseradish, chive oil and edible flowers), the trio of lamb (loin, rack and belly, prepared three different ways) and the imperial chocolate dessert (a warm pudding cake with spiced ice cream and coffee sauce).
The only two things I ever saw her make for dessert were the rabbit-shaped coconut cake complete with pink paper ears and jelly-bean eyes and nose that she brought over for every Easter lunch, and the ambrosia she made during the rest of the year.