Bettolino Kitchen

Celebrated another birthday at Bettolino Kitchen yesterday. It was their first day installing the enclosure, getting ready for the Fall and Winter season. Though it looked cozy, they were not ready to seat us inside the enclosure. We ended up next to the cleaners. Again making it easy for anyone who ended up with tomato sauce or wine on their tops to have it spot-cleaned.

It is tough for me not to order the Tortelloni al Limone, but since we were just there recently and had that, I thought it was time for us to venture into new things. It is hard not to overeat the delicious warm bread with olive oil and spices with parmesan cheese dip. Everyone agreed on Calamari for an appetizer. This was interesting because it had lemon slices that looked like they were fried along with the calamari. They were delicious with the lemon aioli. 

The birthday girl ordered the Oxtail with Spaghetti instead of Gemelli. We were happy about the substitution since we have a superstition that one should have some sort of noodles for "long life" on one's birthday. I tried some of her spaghetti, and it was delicious. There were lots of crimini mushrooms, and the braised oxtail had the best flavor, which went well with the arugula.

Sandi ordered the Carbonara di Gamberi, Spaghetti pasta, garlic sauteed shrimp, pancetta, egg yolk, parmesan, and a cream sauce. I had the Squid Ink Tagliolini with sauteed shrimp, pan-roasted cherry tomatoes, basil in a pesto sauce, and I am not fond of pesto sauce, but this was an exception. I enjoyed my pasta so much that I didn't dare leave any on my plate, unlike the others.

Laura didn't feel like pasta, so she went for the Brasato, very tender short ribs, mascarpone mashed potatoes with sauteed broccolini. She had no complaints. 

We asked for the dessert menu, but our server brought a nice Almond Ricotta Cheesecake for the birthday girl and a Salted Caramel Semifreddo, which is salted caramel mousse layered with graham cracker and chocolate sauce (my favorite). The desserts were complements of Andreanna. They were both delectable!

Bettolino Kitchen is located at 211 Palos Verdes Blvd. in Redondo Beach, California.