Bettolino Kitchen

I took my sister-in-law, Grace, to lunch on her last day in Los Angeles for her birthday. We both decided not to have any alcoholic drinks, so we settled for their mocktails. Grace opted for the Strawberry Basil, and our server Sonia recommended the Balsamic Fig, which sounded intriguing to me. We both loved our drinks. 

I asked Grace if she liked Quinoa and she said yes, so I ordered the Farrata, which normally would be the last thing on my mind as it is a "healthy food" which is not my kind of food, but I've had this numerous times, and it is quite delicious with arugula, tomatoes, quinoa in pesto sauce, sliced avocado and burrata cheese with basil infused olive oil. This went well with their delicious baked bread with olive oil, herbs, and, of course, we asked for Parmesan to add, which made it even better.

For our entrées, Grace had the Short Rib Hash, which looked delicious with Tuscan potatoes and mozzarella, served with garlic-toasted ciabatta bread. She could have had an egg on top, but she chose not to. I had the Del Mare; linguini with halibut, lobster, shrimp, capers, green Italian olives, cherry tomatoes, white wine in a spicy tomato sauce. I have never had this before, and I was pleasantly surprised by how I truly enjoyed it. I had a bite of Grace's short rib hash, and it was very good too. I could not finish my dish as I had a lot of the Farrata, but that was a good thing because I already had my dinner planned: my leftovers plus a salad. 

We both had room for dessert. We ordered the Salted Caramel Semifreddo: a semi-frozen salted caramel mousse with a graham cracker crust and chocolate sauce. Sonia surprised Grace with a birthday Calabrian Pasta Cake: pasta dough folded with sweet mascarpone sauce, citrus zest, and powdered sugar. Both were scrumptious because they weren't too sweet. 

Bettolino Kitchen has always been consistently good. You can always count on delicious food and good service. They are located at 211 Palos Verdes Blvd. in Torrance, California.