Maccheroni Republic Birthday Celebration

It's been several years since I was at Maccheroni Republic. This was the venue Terri chose to treat us for her birthday, a Filipino tradition in which the celebrant gets to treat her friends. I reviewed my previous blog on this restaurant so we knew what not to order.

Ramon ordered the special of the evening which was Cioppino. He has had it before and was excited about ordering it one more time which is always a good sign. I had a spoonful of it to try with a big succulent shrimp and it was indeed very good. Terri, the birthday girl had what our server recommended, the Agnolotti di Osso Bucco. Tortelloni filled with meat and marrow in a salsa verde. This was very good and heavy on the stomach so it's good to share this dish with someone perhaps with a salad. Gary and I split 2 entrées. The first was Bianchi & Neri; black and white thin vermicelli with shrimps, mushrooms and roasted pancetta in a creamy bisque. The other dish was one I had before; Rigatoni Pom' Amore, rigatoni in creamy tomato sauce topped with burrata! Both were wonderful and all the pastas were cooked aldente.

We of course had to order dessert. I know how much I enjoyed Luisa's Olive Cake in the past; orange blueberry cold pressed olive oil cake served with blueberry sauce and whipped cream so that had to be one of the desserts to order. Ramon has had the Tiramisu and remembered it being delicious, so we had that and the Crema di Vaniglia; Italian cooked vanilla custard topped with dark chocolate and caramel sauce. Both tiramisu and crema di vaniglia were outstanding! I will have to  introduce this restaurant to my other friends. I know they will love it as well.

Thank you Terri for inviting us to celebrate your birthday. We had a wonderful time. Thank you too to the restaurant for waiving the corkage fee in honor of Terri's birthday. Maccheroni Republic is located at 332 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles.