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| - It all started when a friend of mine suggested we try the place out, he dined with La Fontanella many times and was impressed with the quality of the food. Having been in a cold weather induced Italian mood, this seemed like a great idea. They have the location, ample parking and have large portions of hearty Italian dishes, a winner as far as I'm concerned.
Walking into La Fontanella you'll be instantly transported back to a time when the Facts of Life was still on Prime time television. In a way this place kind of reminded me of the dining room at Eastland school where Blair, Mindy, Tootie and Jo would work, complete with old style wall sconces, hanging plates and antique looking furniture. While certainly dated to another age, this restaurant was impeccably maintained and cleaned.
After being sat we were quickly greeted by our waiter for the evening, who didn't seem to happy to see us. While he was forcibly polite, his quick fire answers told another story. We just shrugged this off and went back to the reading our menus.
With no explanation, large slices of bread and several pieces of focaccia arrived; accompanied by a bottle of herb infused olive oil, being hungry we just dug in. I enjoy hearing where things come from, is it baked in house, a bakery? I was able to pull some information; apparently these were both made in house. The focaccia was amazingly tender and delicious, with a smattering of tomato sauce over the top, eating one piece just wasn't enough. The sliced bread was nice and light and covered with sesame seeds which imparted a toasty nutty flavor. These also worked well as a vehicle to enjoy their flavorful herb infused olive oil.
We started with an order of Supplì ($3) which are Italian snacks consisting of a ball of rice around a piece of mozzarella, the balls are surrounded by breadcrumbs and then fried. Great creamy interior and crunchy texture, these disappeared quickly. Up next the Escargot ($7.50) were brought out and to our surprise, were room temperature at best. Apparently the waiter wasn't so happy about us bringing this to his attention since he raised his eyebrows and quickly snatched the snail away. I've never seen snails move so quickly and a few moments later our snails returned and were hot enough to enjoy.
I don't think I've ever met artichoke that I didn't like, so it was natural to order the Baked Artichokes ($8). The tender artichoke hearts were covered with a light tomato sauce and finished with fresh basil. While these were good, my only wish at the time was that they were hotter. Unfortunately like the snails, these were just above room temperature.
La Fontanella does make their pastas in house, including the pillowy light Gnocchi ($13.75). The creamy bites were light and also very filling so we opted to save the rest for later. Asking one of the waiters for a box seemed to be a mistake, he whisked the plate away and returned with the gnocchi wrapped in a carry away in which he literally threw onto the table and sped off. I understand they were a little busy with a large party but I'm not sure what we did do garner so much angst from the wait staff? I felt standing up and having a mommy dearest moment, but showing them my continued respect, decided to keep those intensities to myself.
Once the Chicken Piccata ($15.75) arrived I calmed down and purred with the first bites. Sautéed chicken with white wine, lemon, butter, capers and artichoke hearts was fresh and delightful. I wish I could say that for the evenings special, Lobster Ravioli ($22.75) that had such a strong lobster taste it was hard to eat more than a few bites. However the tender and delicious Chicken Alla Parmigiana ($15.75) more than made up for the shortcomings of the last dish.
Desserts were in a class of their own. First the waiter brings out a tray that has wooden facsimiles of the plated desserts themselves. I thought this was kind of cool and did show attention to detail, actually some of them looked remarkably good.
The classic Tiramisu ($6.50) gets a twist with lemon custard in lieu of the layer of chocolate and egg custard. This was a bright and unexpected treat and with each fluffy bite, I felt kind of bad making the dessert disappear in such short order. Also being enjoyed was the Cannoli ($6.50), a fried pastry tube filled with ricotta cheese, chocolate chips and dusted with powdered sugar.
After paying our check and heading out the door we realized that the espresso that we ordered with dessert never arrived. We let it go and just chalked it up to a mixed evening at La Fontanella. Yes the service was surly and a few of the dishes were off but I think over all we had a decent enough food experience to return.
Walking to our cars, I had to bite my tongue several times. I wanted to skewer my friend over the experience, though I kept it to myself, it wasn't like he was our server.
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