My mom was leaving for Taiwan, so I wanted to take her out to dinner before she left. We needed good food on the eastside that wasn’t too fancy, but my mom knows good food (yes, that’s where I get it from). She likes Italian, and I had really like the Wallingford Cantinetta when I went a few years ago, so I thought we could try the newer outpost in Bellevue. Cantinetta is upscale Italian at its finest.
steak tartar – with pomegranate syrup, pretty basic steak tartar, and badly missing crostini to prevent the sliminess of the tartar from being overwhelming, though the chunks of meat were fairly substantial and not completely ground
pappardelle beef cheeks – flavorful braised, tender beef with some pickled veggies cooked in; a perfect ratio of noodles to sauce; the noodles are also handmade, but sadly not as mind blowing as Spinasse’s noodles
stuffed quail – stuffed with sausage; this is probably the best way I’ve ever seen a whole quail served – it was deboned except for the legs, which made it easy to eat, and the sausage inside added more meat and a nice variety of flavors in addition to the quail
zeppole – stuffed with nutella and topped with mascarpone; this is the ENTIRE reason we came here; otherwise known as Italian donuts, they came fresh, hot out of the fryer with molten nutella inside, a nice grainy crisp from the granulated sugar, and the mascarpone mellowed out the sweetness if it was too much while cooling the donuts and adding a touch of creaminess. One of my favorite desserts!
I think if I had to compare the best Italian restaurants in Seattle, Spinesse still wins because of its inventiveness and texture of its pasta. Spinasse also has terrible parking and is a zoo to get into without a reservation, but totally worth it. However, Cantinetta’s zeppole is the stuff I dream about and leave little puddles of drool on my pillow over. Maybe you understand, maybe you don’t, but you should go and try them and let me know what you think!
Overall, I really like Cantinetta and I think it’s a great upscale Italian restaurant for the eastside. There’s also Café Juanita if you’re going all the way for fine dining.
SUMMARY
Overall: happily ever after
Highlights: stuffed quail, nutella zeppole
Footnotes: awesome fennel and dill focaccia bread service, ventilation isn’t great – you’ll leave smelling like sautéed veggies, which can be good or bad depending on how much you like the smell
