Chocottone!

As far as I know, chocottone is a Brazilian invention, taken from the Italian panettone. It replaces the traditional crystallized or dried fruits with chocolate nuggets. It is a sweeter more appealing to kids version of the old traditional sweet bread. Both are suave, airy, light, and to me absolutely delicious. My first post about it was about panettone and nutella. This time I had it for dessert after lunch and decided to accompanied it with some 'carioca' ice cream (chocolate and vanilla). Results below.

Now that Easter is rolling around, Panettone is a traditional eastern treat. Now you can add to it, and make your eastern all the merrier!

Frank Sinatra's Pizza

Grimaldi's Pizza. Supposedly where Frank Sinatra ordered his pizzas. Though I am not sure exactly what pizza he ordered, from my experience I can tell you it must have been good.

We got a white pizza with ham ricotta and garlic. The crust is really thin in the New York style, and the pizza is loaded with cheese. The ingredients are top notch and that's what makes this pizza good. I will say though that the 1 hour wait in line was a bit too much for the pizza itself. It is a cool experience to eat here near the Brooklyn Bridge, but it isn't the best pizza I have eaten. Would I recommend it, yes, but don't expect to be completely blow away by it.

Cucina Italiana

I don't think I will ever write badly about an Italian restaurant, but that doesn't mean I don't know where to give credit. La Vecchia Cucina in Santa Monica is a high end package of deliciousness.

I had the vitello piccata with linguine alla puttanesca. It was very rich in flavor and the meat was very soft. The restaurant tables are packed pretty close together in a very Italian way, and I didn't feel like it disrupted from the experience.

Fritto Misto

Welcome to Santa Monica! There are a lot of good restaurants around here. This time around I decided to go to a small homely Italian restaurant called Fritto Misto. This place has delicious homemade pastas at a moderate price. Under recommendations I got the Jumbo Raviolli, this plate is a ridiculous assortment of delicious. All you need to know is that it has prosciutto, chicken, mozzarella, pancetta (bacon), dried tomatoes, and caramellized onions, all immersed in a garlic cream sauce. Ok enough talk, take a deep breath and take it in.

I haven't even left, but I already want to come back to LA.

Brio Tuscan Grille!

If you want that top notch service, great food, classy upscale atmosphere, head over to Brio, a nice upper scale Italian restaurant. The lunch menu is different from the dinner, with portions considerably cheaper, but also smaller. I had the Pasta Yandolino with Rigatoni, chicken, spinach, mushrooms, Feta and diced tomatoes in a light bercy with pesto bread crumbs.

Everything I have eaten here has been of great quality. I have never had a bad waitress, and somehow just walking in makes you feel important. I think it's a great place for when you have a little extra to celebrate, besides just being your awesome self!

It Tastes Like Green

When I was a little kid I claimed to be able to taste the difference in different colored pastas, no one believed me... That was then, now I make no such claim and people still don't believe me.

Spinach fettuccine with a mascarpone cream sauce with a handful of shredded Parmesan on top. A hard cheese will give you thinner shavings as opposed to soft cheeses. In my opinion it looks a lot better for the presentation, and will melt easier. I also like hard cheeses, because they have a more powerful taste to them.

Shank you Very Much!

I really hope cheese word play or bad photographic lighting doesn't put off your appetite.

This here is a slow cooked lamb shank covered with a selection of diced vegetables and accompanied by a side of linguine aioli. The veggies were soft and had picked up loads of flavor from the meat. The shank would literally melt in your mouth. Lastly the pasta was cooked 'al dente' and gave something for your teeth to dig into. All in all an spectacular dinner.

Italy, not so far...

I am a HUGE fan of Italian food.

This is a shout-out to one of my favorites Capri.
Owned and operated by an Italian, this place bring home made pasta, and original dishes to a location near... well me (The Woodlands, TX). Its a small restaurant with a homely feel, they do not carry a wine selection as they work on a BYOB style (traditional of Italy).

If I cannot convince you with words, well then...

This was a daily special... Seafood extravaganza (clams, mussels, shrimp, calamari) on a bed of slightly spicy spaghetti pomodoro. Plenty of cheese on top... what can I say, I like cheese.

What is Panettone?

It's delicious from what I can tell. If you are looking for a more scholarly explanation here is the wiki for it. Now the version of it that I eat has chocolate chips instead of the traditional dried fruits. This cake/bread with butter is good, but add a small bit of nutella and... well just try it for yourself.

This was my warm up breakfast before I hit the gym... YES! I redeemed myself.