New Italian Restaurant

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

This new restaurant was recommended by friends who had dined there a few times already. It turned out to be a gem. Vino & Cucina in Long Beach.

4 of us met after work and I will say I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food and the pricing. Everything is ala carte but the servings are well portioned. Nice wine list with wine by the glass or bottle and that seemed reasonable also.

One bottle of Chardonnay was bought at the restaurant. I brought a 2003 Stolpman La Croce and Steve brought a 2003 Barolo. Both were excellent.

They start you off with a basket of bread , olive oil & balsamic. We ordered a few appetizers. Brucshetta, shrimp in a lobster sauce and deep fried baby artichokes stuffed with marscapone cheese with a balsamic reduction. All were excellent.

The entrees ordered, were a pasta dish that I did not pay much attention to what is was but Mike liked it. Bradlee had the lasagna which had a white sauce instead of red. Steve had the Beef tenderloin with risotto and polenta and I had the beef stew over risotto. I had expected the stew to have a gravy but instead it was a fresh diced tomato sauce, very light and fortunately no acid.

We did not have desserts as the portions are more than adequate especially if you start off with appetizers. We were all stuffed.

I will be going back to the gem. I hope they stay small and the food stays as good as it is.