Bettolino

It was Mary's birthday, and I decided to take her to one of her favorite restaurants and mine, Bettolino, in Redondo Beach. This night was special because they had a singer and what better way to have dinner than with live entertainment. We got there at 6:30 p.m., and the restaurant was packed. It was pretty noisy. I brought a bottle of wine to celebrate the occasion.

Our server, John, was the best! He was both entertaining and informative. He would open the wine bottle with the opener I never could master. I asked him to demonstrate, and I told him I did the same thing, but the lip would not line up with the bottle when I did it. So, he gave me step-by-step instructions and ended up giving me his personal wine opener! Mary and I were so impressed and shocked. No one's ever gone above and beyond to ensure I could do this next time.

We started with their excellent, addictive bread with olive oil, herbs, and Parmesan cheese. For an appetizer, the Crab Arancini was perfect; we had 2 each. Delicious crispy rice balls with crab and a creamy marinara sauce. 

I decided on my favorite Tortelloni Al Limone; spinach and ricotta stuffed pasta in a lemon cream sauce. Mary asked me if that was good. I told her how wonderful it is without exaggeration; o.k. I may have gotten too excited. While waiting for our tortelloni, we had more bread. When John came around to ask us if we wanted more bread, we both looked at each other and said" "Yes, please."

The Tortelloni arrived with much anticipation. We welcomed the fresh Parmesan cheese and added some chili flakes. We both enjoyed our dish very much. 

Mary got a Cannoli Cheesecake for her birthday. I ordered my favorite dessert, the Salted Caramel Semifredo, a semi-frozen salted caramel mousse layered with graham crackers and a chocolate sauce. 

One thing great about Mary is that she can eat like me. Even with all the bread we consumed, we managed to finish our appetizer and our entrees.

We could not enjoy the entertainment as the noise level was so high that we could barely hear any singing, which was a pity.