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Tehama
Mar 4, 2013 05:10 AM
This past weekend we had a group-style birthday dinner at Capri on Falls of Neuse and it was just fantastic. My BF had arranged the details beforehand and everything was served family style.
As a side note, one of the 16 of us is gluten free and the kind and thoughtful owner, Dino, made sure she had gluten-free bread and later brought her a separate dish of corn-based pasta. Very considerate.
To start, we had plates of four brushettas: the most delicious tomato-topping I have ever had, pumpkin, mushroom, and sheep's milk ricotta were the 4 different toppings.
Then we had a salad course with fresh greens topped with an amazing meat similar to spec, but it was extremely thinly sliced filet.
The pasta course was (1) pear and walnut stuffed purses and (2) squid ink fettucini with a lovely tomato sauce.
It had been a few years since I had been to Capri, but was very glad to make its reacquaintance and will definitely go back soon. Plus, Dino, the owner, is just a complete delight and made the experience a real treat. Well done!
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It is worth the 45 minute drive from West Raleigh to drive to Burlington and go to Prego. I found them searching the web. They were written up in Our State magazine. http://pregostrattoria.com/ Four trips later, I will keep going there. They have nightly specials, Fresh Figs wrapped in phyllo on salad, homemade pastas and desserts... and the patrons are so much friendlier and laid back then Raleigh. A community atmosphere. Reasonably priced and have a full complement of pastas as well as lamb, veal, etc.
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Tehama
Apr 30, 2012 06:05 PM
Assaggio's. 3501 W Millbrook Rd, Raleigh NC 27613 I used to go there every so often when I had a friend that lived nearby and it was always very good. It is like behind the FedEx at the corner of Millbrook & Glenwood.
Anyone else been? I enjoyed it, but it isn't close and I haven't been since my friend moved.
Thanks!
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Another possibility along the lines of Casalinga and Vics is Piccola Italia in Cameron Village. I'd put it at the top of the list among those types of red sauce joints. They also have pretty good pizza too IMHO. Another possibility is Casa San Carlo on Falls of the Neuse--haven't been there but I believe one of the former owners or chefs at Casalinga opened it not too long ago and it likely has a similar menu, etc. There's also Caffe Luna downtown and the more recent Tuscan Blu opened by a former Luna chef, also downtown, which both have a more upscale menu / feel than the Casa / Piccola joints. Finally, we also recently tried Al Dente on Creedmoor which I believe is supposed to have a coal fired oven and does a range of non-pizza dishes. I thought it was good but my wife was not too impressed and it's a good bit of a drive for us so we haven't been back.
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re: Guilty Gourmand
klmonline
May 13, 2012 09:33 AM
Just tried Tuscan Blu last night. I'm sad to say I was disappointed. We started with a Caesar Salad that was goopy with a heavy dressing that had no lightness of fresh ingredients. My SO had a grilled salmon that was fine... very simple and unburdened with any disguising flavors or sauces. But served with some very wet and flavorless sauteed spinach. I had fiocchi di carne ("beggars purses" of pasta stuffed with a meat filling) in a marinara sauce. The pasta was al dente... no complaints there. But the meat filling was mushy and not well seasoned. And the marinara seemed like diced tomatoes in their juice just heated up a bit. No transformation or spices. And then the waitress brought around a big bowl of that fine-ground (powdered?) parmesan looking like Kraft green-can stuff. It just didn't feel like a quality Italian restaurant meal. Oh, and stay away from their house Chianti by the glass!
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Gravy in downtown is a satisfying red sauce joint. Vivace in North Hills is usually pretty good too. They steer more towards northern Italian items. Casalinga in North Raleigh on Capital Blvd might be worth a look. I've had a couple of pretty good pasta dishes there. They do a variety of Italian dishes and some of the Anglo-Italian favorites. Of these, Vivace has the most upscale feel, Casalinga feels more like a mom n pop, and Gravy falls somewhere in between.
