turtley "Eating my way to enlightenment =D"

We tried this place out for OC Restaurant week and it was the highlight of the week. They offer a very diverse menu and the decorations are intricate and pleasing to the eye. To start off, there are two types of appetizers: Italian and bread spreads. Yes, there is a whole portion of the menu with different spreads for your bread, such as Pate, pear jam, or burrata. It sounded so good we had to add it on top of our pricy restaurant week menu (what good Italian place isn’t expensive though?). The pate was rich and tasty, but not being a huge pate person, I could only eat so much of it. My girlfriend loved it through.

The appetizer of beet salad and ricotta gnudi were above average. The gnudi in particular was insanely rich, so I expect most people would eat one and be done (I ate 2.5 of course). The main course was as expected for nice Italian: the pappardelle was executed well (as most places that offer pappardelle). The mushroom/truffle pizza was not mindblowing, but very different than normal pizzas; I sort of wish we got the fried egg on top but we had so much food already.

Dessert, though, was Amazing, capital A. The zeppole was a perfect crispiness and sweetness, added on with a bit of orange peel on top. Imagine a very fancy, creme filled, churro ball. Good, right? The budino was similar to a fudgy pudding, as it had a soft and semi-viscous consistency. The bits of chocolate in it added a lot of the texture and gave more for your mouth to do with.

Overall, the restaurant had excellent food and service. I would go back to try more spreads and dessert.