Biaggi's

Sunday was a shopping day, or at least an attempted shopping day. After a visit to both the Waterloo outlets and Eastview mall, I only walked away with a sweater. Still no closer to getting our Halloween costumes together.

Anyway, anytime we find ourselves in the Victor vicinity (what's our vector, Victor?) we home in on Bellini's. Something about all the big box stores must create a craving for semi-fancy, heavily Americanized chain Italian. Apparently this is not a desire just limited to myself. Besides Bellini's, there is Biaggi's and an Olive Garden (the grandmother of this food genre) within a 2 block radius of the Eastview mall. Perhaps this flood on the market could explain why there were dumpsters in front of Bellini's, surrounded by caution tape and various bits of disassembled metal. Apparantly Bellini's is now out of business. Or doing a serious remodel. Or something. Anyway, not open to us. (Benucci's in the Pittsford Plaza, which also fills the same purpose, is also in a remodel. Is this the start of a horrific trend?).

This left us no further recourse but to try Biaggi's Casual Italian Eatery, which appears to be the more chain-y, jacked up on Cheesecake Factory/Las Vegas/Disney architecture juice. (You know what? I'm gonna start calling that the Cheesecake Factor. Feel free to spread the phrase into your everyday parlance). Despite the imposing 15 foot ceilings, the food was pretty decent. I would have preferred a pannini, but that just wasn't in the cards (or the menu). Strangely, most of their dishes come with cream sauce. Even chicken parmesan and lasagna. But thankfully, you can ask to switch to marinara for something more traditional/non-crazy.

The soup special (mushroom barley) was very good, though 5 or 6 bucks, which is even more extortive when they ask you if you want soup or salad after you order your entree, such that it sounds as if you have a choice between the two included in the cost of your entree. I didn't fall for it but I don't appreciate when places do it either. The soft drinks were also almost 3 dollars. I can put away a lot of Diet Coke in the course of a meal, but the amount of Diet Coke necessary to make a $3 price tag justifiable equals the entire volume of Biaggi's itself. Flooded up to its faux stucco vaulted ceilings.

The Boy had the chicken parmesan (substituting marinara for cream sauce) as is his long-established Italian dining custom. Bonus points for the spring of actual, fresh basil on the top. I mixed it up with Penne Sardi. Penne in a too-thin sun dried tomato cream sauce (surprise, surprise) with chicken, onions, and mushrooms. Topped with bread crumbs. Kind of a casserole, but better. I was pleased, but not overwhelmed. The onions were cut too large and I really wanted more mushrooms. But the penne was cooked well (as was the Boy's angel hair) and there was lots of chicken. So even though our minds weren't blown, and it was a little on the pricey side, we did leave decadently full and slumberous. Just the condition you want to be in when going shopping.

Tony D's Pizza

Tony D's coal fired pizza has been in Corn Hill Landing for awhile now. We went there not long after seeing a review in City Newspaper. I wasn't that wild about it at the time. If memory recalls, I had the carciofi -- artichoke -- pizza. This was before they had their liquor license and maybe they were just figuring stuff out. (Also, it was raining and I almost died slidding on their slick floors in my boots).

Well, after a few raves from friends (and after running out of any other casual Italian places to try), we visited again last week. I don't know if it was just happenstance but this time the food was much much better. The pizza is crispy and the portions are huge.

We started with a meatball appetizer. The meat quality could have been better, and I wasn't wild on the sauce, but the balls were huge and satisfying. (that's what she said). The sauce tasted just like tomatoes, but it did have a certain brightness. I would have liked something thicker, but it worked.

We then each got pizzas: I had the special and the Boy had the Vognole -- clams. The Vognole had clams, garlic, parsley -- all the usual clam pie contenders. Doesn't hold a candle to Pepe's of course, but it was balanced and satisfying. I think it's my favorite on the regular menu. Maybe some of my initial hesitation about loving the restaurant stems from the fact that nothing really grabs me on the menu, despite my rather broad-ranging love of pizza toppings. I was debating to make my own (although half of the great toppings aren't available on the make your own list) when the waitress shared with us the specials.

The special pizza that night was spinach, Italian sausage, garlic and ricotta. Why, yes please! Had I not gotten that last-minute option, I might not have had such an enthusiastic reaction. Always trust in the specials, people!


It would be remiss of me not to mention that they do now have their alcohol license. They have a decent stock of bottled beers (including Peroni in keeping with the Italian theme). And their wine list is rather extensive and of average price. I had been meaning to try a Primativo and was elated to find one by the glass for $8. It ended up being a little too drab with too quick a finish, but at least I got to give it a try!

One day I will have to also give their desserts a try -- the cannoli and the HUGE chocolate mousse cake both looked fantastic!

Bellini's Italian Eatery

Despite all the pride I have from making our meals from scratch, despite all the joy I get from going out to really great dining experiences like at Good Luck, despite all the love I feel for local restaurants and the Farmer's Market... Sometimes you just need some cheap and fast Italian food for lunch. And a chain restaurant in a strip mall across from Eastview Mall will do surprisingly well.

I think it was in the first week that I moved here that I started craving just plain traditional Italian-American comfort food. Could not be found. Finally hit upon Mr. Dominic's, which does fit the bill, but it's all the way in Charlotte and tends to be unspeakably crowded during the summer beach-traffic months. Wanted something closer to town, a quiet, dark place to pop into on a Saturday for lunch. Benucci's in Pittsford Plaza appeared to meet my qualifications, but the food was never really up to par (and I'm not yet desperate enough to try Mario's down the street).

So this weekend the chicken parm craving struck the Boy. Without any idea of a new place to try we headed to Suburbia for some low-grade shopping and the notion in the back of my head that I could break him down to go to PF Chang's instead. But I spotted a sign for Bellini's Italian Eatery across from the mall. This seemed like the kind of place we were looking for, and indeed it was. Dark and quiet inside, with a somewhat fancy, wood-paneled interior that wasn't too stuffy. Kind of a cozy hotel bar type feel. Just a tinge of cheesiness with giant wine bottles and artificial grape leaves.

The food was simple, inexpensive, and pretty excellent. I had a Balsamic Panini (panino, but I'm done trying to explain to people that panini means two sandwiches in Italian). It had chicken, carmelized onions, and lots of mozzarella of course. Cooked perfectly. And with a side of sweet potato fries and garlic aioli. I didn't even know those little guys were coming, but any sauce is always effusively welcomed to my plate. As are sweet potato fries. The Boy had the chicken parmesan he so desired. The sauce seemed a bit thin to me, and penne is a strange choice for thin sauce and for chicken parm. But there were no leftovers. Definitely worth it to try this place again. I'm not gonna lie, sometimes we really love to "slum it" and spend a Saturday in the suburbs, going to big box stores and eating at chain restaurants. And this particular chain restaurant definitely wins out over the Olive Gardens of the world (yes, we even tried there once. Blech.)

Lasagna

Whenever we have a lazy weekend day, the Boy always wants to make something that has to cook all day. This is usually some kind of old-fashioned comfort food like roast chicken or ribs. This Saturday was just such a day, and the request from on high was for lasagna.

Even though I am in full summertime grill mode, lasagna is probably my favorite nostagic meal, so I relented. Plus the Boy was in paper-writing hell, so I needed something to entertain myself -- like battling the crowd at Wegmans in the rain!

I went with the recipe from our 60s era Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (which will one day be used to concoct some really crazy old school dishes like congealed salads).

Recipe

1 lb of ground beef (or sausage if you'd like)

1 medium onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tomatoes on the vine, chopped (I added these in just because)

1 can of tomato sauce

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can of tomato paste (the little can -- 6 oz)

2 c. mozzarella

1 small container of ricotta (I used skim)

1/2 c. parmesan

2 eggs

basil

parsley

1 box lasagna noodles (I found whole wheat but it was hard)

Cook the noodles per the box's directions. Brown the beef with the onions and garlic, then drain. Add in next four ingredients -- all things tomato. Cover and let simmer on medium heat for as long as possible. This makes a really nice Bolognese, but the longer the better. Mix the ricotta with the egg, parmesan, basil, and parsley. Layer noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, meat sauce. Repeate 3 times or until you're out of something. Top with more mozzarella. Bake at 375 for 30 to 45 minutes, until cheese is browned.

As a kid, I loved nothing more than attempting to be mature by making myself Stouffer's lasagna, with a wine glass full of Diet Coke, and watching Days of Our Lives while home alone in the summer. So sitting down in front of the TV with this, my first homemade lasagna, and a glass of Diet Coke, was about as nostalgic as it gets. And it didn't even take the whole day (though attempting to make parmesan breadsticks from scratch pretty much did).

Calzones

Made calzones last night and was really blown out of the water with how great they turned out (if I don't say so myself).

I followed the NY Times' empanada dough recipe, mostly because I didn't want to waste time with waiting for yeast to rise. It creates a doughy/flaky, more biscuit-y taste than a pizza dough. Probably a preference choice, but since the Boy doesn't like doughy pizza dough, I thought this would bring the crispness he prefers. Or at least that was the ex post facto logic that made my laziness turn out for everyone's benefit.

Another way my laziness worked to my benefit: I had made pesto in the food processor the night before and had yet to clean it out. But hello, basil mixed in the crust! Yeah, the crust gets mixed in a food processor, which I highly prefer to my somewhat finicky (or abused) mixer. So that added a lot of flavor right into the crust.

For the filling, I just went with basic marinara, carmelized onions, and this really cool herb and garlic sausage I bought at Wegmans the night before. Folded over the crust, slapped on an egg wash, and baked it on high heat (450ish) until it looked done (technical as usual). Benissimo, bebe! No seriously, it was perfecto-- especially since I had no idea how to really make calzones and sort of made it up as I went along. I can see this in so many configurations (like more empanadas, obvis). But you could also do a tart, or a flatbread pizza... Just glorious!

Broccoli Rabe Pasta

Depending on the amount of wheat linguine we have left, I'm thinking this is what we're having for dinner tonight.

Pasta with broccoli rabe, toasted garlic, and bread crumbs.