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A bottle of white, a bottle of red
Perhaps a bottle of rose instead
We got a table against the wall
It had an old familiar air
My friends and I, sitting chair to chair
A bottle of red, a bottle of white
It all depended upon our appetite
We met for dinner, it was nonchalant
In Chris Bianco's Italian Restaurant.
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Within the Town and Country shopping center lies Chris Bianco's Italian Restaurant, a nod to simple, unpretentious Italian-American cuisine. There is an emphasis on home-made, fresh ingredients, as is evident in the hand-made pastas and slow-cooked meats.
We were first served some lovely crostini with a creamy cheese (Maybe ricotta?). We also decided on getting the cheese platter appetizer, which consisted of Brie, sheep's milk cheese, and goat milk cheese with orange marmalade and candied pecans. It was served with a basket of bread, and a single buttery looking crostini on the cheese plate. The bread was a little too chewy for my tastes, but the cheeses were quite nice, especially with the marmalade and pecans.
For main courses, I ordered the crespelle, and also tried the porchetta and papardelle. The crespelle is like the Italian version of a savory crepe. It had freshly made ricotta, spinach, and garlic, with a hearty, chunky tomato sauce. The crespelle tasted decent, although there were large halved pieces of garlic in the filling that still had some "bite" to them because they weren't fully cooked. The papardelle I tried had a nice meaty ragu to accompany the fresh pasta. The porchetta was easily the best item out of all our meals. The slow-roasted pork was very tender, and the sauce had a nice full flavor that matched well with the pork, black-eyed peas, and root vegetables.
I was kind of torn on what to give Italian Restaurant rating-wise, since the pasta dishes, although impressive that they were freshly made, just tasted OK to me (A 3 star for just the pasta). However, the porchetta and friendly service helped tip the scales so I'll upgrade to a 4 star rating.
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