Mario's Place

For Virginia's birthday we took a trip over to Mario's place for some fancy Italian food. We have been to Mario's once before but that was before I wrote about the things I ate. Out of all the restaurants in Riverside this place is by far one of the best and probably rivals some of the Italian food on the east coast. I know right? From a New Jersey kid that is a lot to say about a Riverside restaurant so I was hoping it would not disappoint this time around.

I really enjoy the ambiance of this place, upscale but relaxed, where you can dress up and feel right or show up in jeans and fit in just the same. We choose to dress up when coming here because there are so few places in Riverside where you can suit up and not look out of place. They also lower the lighting as the night goes on creating an intimate atmosphere that is just right for a place with this kind of food. I only wish it didn't cost over $100 to eat there every time but I guess sometimes you get what you pay for. 

For my first course I ordered the crispy squash blossoms. I have seen those on some of the food network shows and figured now was a good a time as any to order them.

mmmm goat cheese

 These blossoms were almost tempura fried with such a light batter you could see the flower right through it. Filled with creamy goat cheese that oozed out when you cut them and resting atop a tomato basil sauce these blossoms were delicious. I was expecting them to be a bit greasy but they were crisp and light and a wonderful start to the meal. 

Next I was prepared to order the wild boar ragu but was drawn away by the description of their pasta special. What was it you ask? Parpadelle with duck ragu, kalamata olives, and shaved Parmesan cheese. I had never heard of a duck pasta and I do love duck so I had to go for it.   

Duck Ragu and Parpadelle Pasta

Wow, remember the short ribs at Buddakan and the reaction I had to that? This was very similar. The ragu had an immense amount of flavor and the duck meat just melted into it to create a thick coating on the pasta. And the pasta, just a tiny bit al dente and the perfect vessel for the ragu. Even the addition of kalamata olives was brilliant. They added the saltiness that the dish needed but since they were halved you could choose when to eat them instead of having them completely incorporated. I could eat some pasta, mix in the duck, take an olive half and add in the Parmesan just for a cheesy bite. It was only a moderately sized portion but it was so rich that I was full halfway through, but let's be honest, I finished the whole thing. It was just that good. Too bad it was a special because I would eat that every time if I could. What an amazing entree.

For dessert I ordered the chocolate raspberry purse which was pretty good just not the best thing I ate that night. The purse was chocolate sponge cake, melted chocolate, and raspberries wrapped in phyllo dough with some raspberry sorbet on the side. It was also a nice addition to crisp up a few pieces of phyllo and lay them on top of the purse. Don't get me wrong it was a good dessert and the sorbet was deliciously tart and tangy but for me the sponge cake to melted chocolate ratio was off. I was really hoping for the chocolate to ooze out when I cut into it like a volcano cake but the chocolate had mostly soaked into the sponge and didn't really ooze much at all. All in all it was a little on the dry side but a nice ending to a great meal.

Ooze damn you ooze!

I would definitely go back to Mario's Place and would recommend that you check it out. It really is a gem hanging out in the sea of sad excuses for Italian food in Riverside. 

Overall Review: 8/10

Gourmet Pizza Shoppe

 

Virginia and I decided to take a ride up to Redlands and visit The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe. Though I have been here before, this time I am going to write about it. The Gourmet Pizza Shoppe is a pretty unassuming place that looks like the inside belongs outside. It is kind of strange with one wall looking like the front of a building from a TV set. What it lacks for décor is surly makes up for in food. It is really hard to find decent pizza in the Inland Empire so this restaurant with unique and inventive pizza options is a breath of fresh air.

This time around I ordered the Brando which is cream cheese, pesto sauce, pepperoni, sausage, cashews, angel hair pasta, green onions & mozzarella cheese. I know you’re thinking “Cashews, angel hair pasta, and pizza, no way”! That is exactly what I was thinking in addition to being a little nervous about the lack of tomato sauce. Past history has shown that I have a hard time with non-traditional pizzas but I was up for the challenge. Below you will see the pizza in all its might. 

Check out that cheese and pasta on the edges!

The cheese was perfectly cooked to a crispy finish and the crust looked nice and crunchy. At first bite I completely understood the addition of the angel hair pasta. Though it was pre-cooked, the edges were crunchy because it baked in the pizza oven. This was such an interesting texture to go along with the other toppings. The entire combination was interesting with the cream cheese and the pesto contrasting and the crunchiness of the cheese, crust, and pasta. The meat was completely necessary because it added that wonderful savory element with the fattiness that bound the whole pizza together.

The last piece of the pie that I need to talk about is the addition of cashews. When you look at their menu you will notice that cashews pop up on a lot of their pizzas so they must know something that we all don’t. On this pizza, the cashews were a little strange but I find it odd to say that if I ordered the Brando again I would leave them on. Somehow some way, the cashews worked and they may have been the best part of the entire pizza. Salty and a little sweet cashews belong on this pizza..crazy. The only thing I would change would be to crush up the cashews a bit so they distributed more across the pizza but besides that this pizza was ingenious. I will find it hard to order something else the next time we go.

Next onto dessert and yes, they do make dessert pizzas! Virginia made the decision and chose to order the Sarah’s Surprise. This wonderful dessert pizza included vanilla cream cheese whip, graham crackers, chocolate chips, brown sugar, melted butter & jack cheese. Though there was an unfortunate lack of cashews on this pizza (I kid) it was not only the best dessert pizza I ever had it was one of the best desserts I have ever had. Never has dessert made me forget about dinner so quickly but wow this pizza was amazing! Take a look.

Sarah's Surprise in all of its graham cracker glory

Crispy and sweet with cooked graham crackers added to gooey melted chocolate AND hand held. Not only all of that but it was piping hot right out of the oven so it was reminiscent of a s’more right out of the campfire. I was just sad that we only ordered a seven inch pie because I could have eaten three of them by myself. The best part was that they added cheese to the pie. It really added something special to the dish and gave it the last kick that pushed it over the top to something you could truly call gourmet.

I would definitely recommend Gourmet Pizza to my friends and have many times. I only wish that it was closer to Riverside so I could go once a week! Go there and try the Brando and the Sarah’s Surprise or the Kiss and the Apple Annie or the Malibu Madness and the Einstein’s Glue; you really can’t go wrong.

Overall Review 9/10

Ciao Bella

We visited Ciao Bella as a dinner for my department so this review is of the meal at that event not the normal restaurant menu. My disclaimer is that I did go to Ciao Bella once before and the food was good, I had my first octopus steak. It is quite expensive for the area and the food but that is for another time. Now for the review of the three course meal. First off, we ate in the basement of the restaurant which they call a wine cellar. It was way too small for the number of people in attendance which meant we were really crowded. The extremely odd part about this location was that it was unreasonably hot. The AC didn’t work well and it was supposed to be a wine cellar. There is no way that wine should have been in an 80 degree hotbox. The upstairs part of the restaurant was easily 15 degrees colder.

My first course was a salad with what I think was mango vinaigrette, I can’t really remember, which says a lot. All I remember about this salad was that it was drowning in dressing. Truly not a great way to start a meal. It really is not that hard to toss a green salad in dressing and serve it crisp and fresh but I think they were overwhelmed by the twenty of us being served at the same time. Personally, I think the salads were good to begin with but sat around until they were already to come down together.

My second course was very interesting. It was a dish that would have worked perfectly if not for one glaring misstep. I ordered a seared duck breast which was supposed to be served over mango risotto and then surrounded with side by side sauces, one mango and the other a port wine reduction. I will give them credit where credit is due, the duck was cooked wonderfully. It was medium so not tough, my knife ran through the meat without much effort and the fat layer on the top melted in my mouth. The sauces were also very good accompaniments; personally I really liked the tang of the port wine reduction added to the smooth texture of the duck breast. The mango sauce was a little too sweet and somewhat shutdown my palette.

So what was the misstep you ask, well I’ll tell you. They added what tasted like American cheese to the mango risotto. Now you’re asking, “Wait, American cheese with mango, duck, and port wine sauce, that sounds odd”. I reply, you are correct and it was not in the original description of the dish. At first taste all I could think of was Kraft cheesy macaroni in the blue box. And let me tell you, though I love the blue box, it made no sense on this plate and it tasted so strange with mango mixed in. I truly believe that someone made a huge mistake with that or maybe they were drinking the wine that was spoiling in their sauna of a wine cellar. In order to make the dish work I had to take the risotto off my plate and eat it as a side dish. The last thing on that dish was crispy onion strings on the top. Fun but completely unnecessary on top of a potentially sophisticated duck entrée.

Desert was a crème brulee. Ok, but somewhat forgettable. Yes it was creamy and sweet and yes the sugar was torched well but it was just a standard crème brulee, nothing that blew me away. The one annoying thing was that it was a little warm when served. I like my crème brulee nice and cold with a solid sugar top to crack through. I feel like the cold texture makes it all that much better, but that’s just me.

All in all, I just think that the kitchen was overwhelmed but the amount of people they needed to serve simultaneously and it showed in the quality of service and the quality of the food. All the dishes could have been so much better if they didn’t miss standard production rules like don’t let a dressed salad sit around and didn’t add weird things to the entrée like the cheese product from the Kraft Blue Box. It was a very different meal than the first time I went with Virginia so I would not recommend Ciao Bella for parties larger than 8-10.

Overall Recommendation: 5/10

Paesanos Italian Sandwiches

Well I had a break from 3:30 to 5:15 today and decided to make the two mile walk out to Paesanos. What was the draw you ask? None other than a fried lasagna sandwich! Upon my arrival it was confirmed that this place was a dive, but a friendly and welcoming dive at that. The owner was there and cooking with his head chef fully tattooed with sleeves on both arms. I sat down at one of the eight seats at the counter and prepared to be wowed. One thing that stuck out to me was that they knew almost every person who walked into the restaurant. That level of committed customer is what I look for in a corner shop.

One thing to note is that I love the concept of an open kitchen. For me it is a wonderful thing to watch them make my food and I think that they pay closer attention because they know you are watching. This favorite of mine was realized at Paesanos because it was so small that the oven and grill were right behind the counter.

So let's talk fried, yes, fried lasagna. Not only do they have a lasagna that would make me lick the plate with its perfectly cooked noodles and stringy melted cheese but they pan fry it in just a little bit of oil. Next they toss it on a toasted bun with melted provolone, creamy, creamy provolone and then top it with a perfectly fried and delicious egg. At some restaurants it may stop there but not at Paesanos. The chef then took some heavy cream and tomato paste and made me a sauce just for my sandwich. That was when I knew I was in for something special. In what world does an eight seat dive make a pan sauce from scratch for every order? My mouth was watering and I was ready to down this sandwich.

First bite, creamy and sweet, crunchy and rich, with sauce running all over my hands in reckless abandon. One bite and I could sit back in my seat and take a nap. One bite and I knew that it was a good thing that I do not live in Philadelphia. Wow, this was a sandwich, why doesn't everyone fry their lasagna and put it on a bun? I finished my sandwich faster than I thought I could and was thankful that my stomach wouldn't listen to my brain when it asked for another.

I left Paesanos with a full and happy stomach and with a desire to go back tomorrow. This makes me thankful that it is two miles from my hotel and I am too cheap to rent a cab. If not I may camp out there for the next few days and try everything they have to offer. I am also thankful that I walked the four mile round trip because my caloric intake may have been enough for an entire day but it was so worth it.

My final thought to anyone in Philly - go to Paesanos, order the "Bolognese", and tip well. They earned it.

Rating: 9/10