Try:
At Cafe Zucchero, try the Banana Napoleon and the Chocolate gelato; vanilla Chocolate Chip gelato was very popular with the customers lined up in front of us. At Trattoria Fantastica, start with the Caprese for a fresh salad and Cappellini fra Diavoli for a tasty entree. Prices are moderate at an average of $10 per appetizer and $15 per entree.
Yesterday evening, the hubby, John, and I headed to Little Italy for a nice, relaxing dinner. Little Italy is a great community, with cozy cafes within walking distance of each other, each one serving an extensive menu of pastries and espressos. We hadn't dined at a fancy restaurant in quite awhile, so I was really looking forward to dinner at Trattoria Fantastica; since dinner begins at five, and we arrived in LI at four, we decided to start with dessert at Cafe Zucchero.
This warmly-lit cafe showcased beautifully-crafted edible art, like traditional tiramisu, cannolis, and cheesecakes, and a rainbow of gelato flavors, like hazelnut, espresso, and vanilla-chocolate chip. To quell our sugar fix for the day, we decided on both a pastry and gelato, which totaled $7, a great discount to comparable pastry restaurants that charge much more.
The gelato comes in three serving sizes: large, medium, and small- with the smallest, offering two scoops of the Italian ice cream. I scanned the selection for my favorite, chocolate, and John picked out raspberry because it looked tasty. Not only did the two small scoops turn out to be quite a lot of gelato, we weren't charged for picking out different flavors. How great is that!
The chocolate gelato had the luxurious feel of a rich and creamy custard; it was incredible, the best chocolate gelato I have had in all of San Diego. The raspberry gelato, on the other hand, was more tart than sweet, and the texture reminded me less of a custard and more of a sorbet. I may have been mistaken, and the scoop of raspberry was indeed a sorbet...
Moving on to the Banana Napoleon, this was yet another incredible dessert. I really liked that, unlike others I've had, this particular napoleon didn't crumble to pieces as my fork cut through layers of real banana slices, flaky cake wafers, and thick pastry cream. Yum!
Despite the delicious treats served here, the beginning of our evening was slightly ruined by the cashier, who scoffed at our timid request to enjoy our desserts inside the restaurant, citing their restaurant table policy of "dinner guests only." This encounter soured us on Cafe Zucchero, but we made our peace with this strange policy and took our desserts to the patio chairs outside the building.
Looking forward to an authentic Italian pasta dish, we checked our watches and walked over to Trattoria Fantastica, also owned by the Busalacchi restaurant group, right next door.
After skimming the menu and struggling with the order in Italian (the server was very understanding and didn't so much as grimace at our attempts), a basket of bread and a plate of olive oil and vinaigrette were brought out. The wicker piece cradled freshly grilled pizza crust inside a deep-purple linen napkin, and we turned the grilled slices of flatbread inside-out and swept it across the olive-oil-and-vinaigrette dressing.
John ordered the Penne con Pollo, a rustic-orange mix of "chicken, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, and garlic, in a pink cream sauce", according to the menu. The penne pasta was a perfect al dente, the mushrooms were soft, and there was a lightness to the tomato sauce, with undertones of briny anchovies. Delicious! I sampled this dish and liked that there was a lot of chicken littered throughout the penne, however, the chicken was very bulky and required slicing before eating.
I ordered the Cappellini fra Diavoli, a deep-welled plate of "fresh angelhair pasta, shrimp, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and pepperoncino." Angelhair pasta is my favorite pasta noodle, and I really enjoy it mixed with some form of seafood because the pasta tends to be sweeter, in my opinion, and the seafood brings in the much-needed saltiness, presenting a good balance of savory flavors. In this case, the shrimp went exceptionally well with the angelhair noodles, and the chunks of nectarous roasted tomatoes gave the dish a good, soft composition against the thread-like shrimp. At first glance, the plate of noodles and seafood looked like only a few bites, but I was pleasantly deceived: there was a bounty of food on the plate, and I took the leftovers home to enjoy the next day.
It was a great three-course meal, and I look forward to dining at Cafe Zucchero and Trattoria Fantastica again. Maybe next time, dinner first, then dessert.
