Back to Avenue Italy

Sandi has not been to Avenue Italy on 31243 Palos Verdes Dr. South in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes. Tonight seemed as good as any night for her to try it so we decided to go early. Early was at 4:30 p.m. There was a couple at the bar and no diners yet; we were the first. We naturally expected very good service.

Abel was the server that catered to me and Yvonne last week. He remembered me and told us we could sit anywhere we liked. I ordered a glass of Prosecco for Sandi and I had a glass of Barbera. We started out with a basket of bread with a dipping sauce made of olive oil, Italian parsley, olives, garlic and vinegar. We thought it be best to split a salad and since we both like beets, we had the Beet Salad with candied walnuts, dried cranberries, feta cheese in a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

I have had the Bolognese but Sandi has not so I did my good deed by agreeing to split that with her and order a Capellini alla Checca; angel hair pasta with fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil and mozzarella cheese. Abel was willing and able to split both with no hassles and no fee for splitting either. He remembered I liked my pasta aldente. I liked that! The pasta arrived. I asked for some parmesan and when he arrived with a big bowl, I asked if he could bring me some in a small dish. Lo and behold, he left the large bowl of parmesan. That made me very happy. Both pasta were very good. Sandi was impressed. She could not finish her portion again because she overdosed on the bread. She happily had them pack it in a "to go" bag.

I wanted the Tiramisu which I loved the last time but Sandi does not eat anything with coffee so I had the Limoncello Sorbet. She ordered the Spumoni encased in a chocolate shell. I do not like spumoni but she had me taste the chocolate part of it. I added it to my limoncello sorbet and that made it very good. If I may make a suggestion to the restaurant, it would be easier to eat the sorbet in a bowl as oppose to a narrow glass.

So far, Avenue Italy is still a good place for Italian food up on the hill. Hope it stays that way.