Bella Mia (Cary, NC)

09.24.11

  This Saturday was a little exception to us eatting out, my dad wanted to treat us to dinner. We decided to go to Bella Mia for dinner this way my dad could try something new. We started off with the Caprese Crostini (fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil, extra virgin olive oil), that one is more for a single person since it is too small to share. Rick, the owner, had mentioned previously that they were going to start making the mozzarella there at the restaurant soon, you can definetly taste the difference now. It is far from the kind you would get anywhere, it has a very mild taste and a dough like texture. We also ordered some of Anthony's Meatballs (which feature the ground beef from Rare Earth Farms). They combination of grass-fed beef with the right seasoning combination really hits the spot and to top them off, they drizzle some tomato sauce and a slice of cheese. Then, the last appeticer was a small order of the Coal Oven Roasted Chicken Wings (Ashley Farms, Winston-Salem NC). First time we got these I thought they were going to be your typical buffalo wings drenched in sauce but they were not, they had more of a herb sprinkled and then baked look. The slightly salty and tangy taste is something I was not expecting. All these appeticers are really worth it. Since there were five of us there that night we decided on getting three pizzas to make sure we had plenty of food. The pizzas we ordered were the following, Broadway (tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, arugula, prosciutto di parma, gran cru, extra virgin olive oil), Delancy St. (tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, house meatballs, caramelized onions, gaeta olives) and a Margherita (tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, pecorino romano, extra virgin olive oil). The Margherita was mainly ordered for the girls since they are so picky. The pizzas are sliced into fours slices but one of the waitresses asked if they could be sliced into eight slices since we had the kids, which I greatly appreciate. The Delancy St. is a favorite of the pizzas that we ordered that day. I highly recommend this pizza place especially since it is in the top 25 pizza places in the country.

Battistella (Raleigh, NC)

      On Friday evenings my wife and I take a break from any kitchen duties and just search for restaurants in the area that sound good, seem good or have heard that are good. Normally we had good experiences at the majority of restaurants that we go to. There have been places where the service has been excellent but the food has been crap and vice versa. We will give the restaurants at least two tries before we completely stop going there all together. We do have a list of restaurants that we won't go to already. So while at the NC State Farmers Market today, I was talking to a couple about restaurant choices and dishes that I liked when they suggested I start blogging about my experiences. Hopefully I can do a good enough job at describing our experience on here as I do in person.

09.23.11

     This Friday we went to a restaurant that we had been waiting on the opening for a while. We had been hearing about the opening of a New Orleans cuisine restaurant coming to Raleigh. Finally this Tuesday I heard that it had finally opened for business. Enthusiastically we headed to the restaurant not knowing what to expect just hoping for something good and different. At first look the building has this aged look to it, which I do not mind at all, I think it sets the mood and atmosphere. As soon as you enter the restaurant you are immediately greeted by a really friendly staff and the bar is immediately behind and to your left. If you head to the right you come up to the dinning area and the kitchen. Once seated, on one of the walls you will see a dessert menu and a few other items listed. There's another wall that you can ask to see which is fascinating, it was to me, where they let you know what farm they got their ingredients from. What better way to know where your food came from than that?

     We started off with a New Orleans BBQ Shrimp (toasted garlic, rosemary, lemon, peppery butter sauce) appetizer, the shrimp were nicely cooked and complemented well by the butter sauce. I was left wishing for more since there were only five shrimp in there and there was four of us sharing them. For our entrees, Cat ordered herself the Char Grilled Rare Earth Farms Flank Steak (herb roasted market vegetables, crispy onion rings, green peppercorn sauce) medium rare. For the girls she ordered Shrimp and Grits (Prodigal Farm goat cheese grits, andouille sausage, "holy trinity" sauce) which they kindly split into two plates for them. For myself, I got the Bronzed Chicken Pontalba (brabant potatoes, mushrooms, tasso ham, hollandaise sauce) because the waitress recommended it, I wish I remembered her name right about now this way I could give her the credit she deserves on here.

     When the food came we were very impressed with the aesthetics of the plates that were brought to us. I was really hungry so I immediately dove in. The chicken was to tender that I have no doubt that it could have been cut using the fork itself and the flavor was just amazing. After tasting the chicken I scooped up some potatoes and tasso ham, the best I can describe the tasso is like a really good chorizo. It has a little saltiness and a good amount of peppers to it. After tasting that I decided to steal some food off of Cat's plate. I cut a small piece of the flank steak just to sample it and it was the most tender piece of flank steak I have ever tasted. I love flank but I like mine done a little more than medium rare. I went back to my plate to cut a piece of chicken for Cat to try out and immediately after that I went for the kids plates. I didn't try the shrimp since I had already had some earlier but I tried the grits with the "holy trinity" sauce and cheese. No where else have I encountered grits like those in my life. They were not powdery or gritty in your mouth, they were soft. 

     To top it off, the ending to dinner was Bread Pudding. The bread pudding is not for those who rely a lot on textures when eating. Cat is not a fan of mushy things so she did not like it, I on the other hand enjoy food for their flavor. The bread pudding was warm, sweet and had a pretty strong cinnamon taste. To me that was a awesome piece of bread pudding. 


     So my final verdict on Battistella's is that it is worth going, worth the price and we will definitely be going back soon. Also it exciting to be able to shake hands with the chef himself and get to thank him for the amazing dinner we had.