3 minute read
Restaurant Review: La Bella Vita
By Nathan Spinelli
I didn't think going out to an Italian restaurant would ever be anything other than your typical experience;
bread served with choices of antipasto (usually bruschetta, caprese, or artichoke dip), several pasta varieties, wine of course, and tiramisu for dessert assuming your stomach hasn’t stopped working from the sheer amount of creamy pasta you’ve engorged yourself on. Never had I thought someone would marry Italian — something which I personally take pride in from my own family’s namesake — with a sports bar.
Matrimony between traditional Italian and the American Sports bar scene seems contradictory, akin to something television producers might drum up for reality TV (or maybe they met online). Sophistication and tradition meet rowdy and rough is what I was reconciling during our recent trip to La Bella Vita in Richland.
Elevated foliage and chandeliers show the Italian heritage, while TVs playing March Madness adorned the walls where you might expect paintings or candelabras. I wasn’t sure how to feel or what to think, taking in the sights and musing with my wonderful wife about the décor. Still, I was willing to try the food. The menu was varied with Italian and more traditional bar food. We each ordered; me off the bar side and she off the Italian side. Stuffed avocados were requested from the appetizers and of course a cocktail for each.
As a teenager and into adulthood, mozzarella with tomatoes and vinegar have been a personal staple. Avocados occasionally graced the two, completing the colors of the Italian flag. It was surprising then to see what our server brought out and placed before us. It looked as though they had deconstructed my homemade caprese with avocado. It was beautiful. And it was delicious. I remembered being a teenager again, eating avocado caprese with my family at dinner. Complementing it was my whiskey sour which had the right balance of sweet and sour that I so crave in a good drink.
I could go back to Bella Vita for this pasta alone.
Our main dishes, Fettuccine La Bella and the Tri-Cities Steak Panino were next. The sandwich baguette was soft which — and I know this may be controversial — was welcome. Often, I avoid any sandwich on a baguette as it can tear up my mouth. This did no such thing. My one critique: I wanted the carmelized onion to step up as the hero ingredient, rather than falling back behind the other flavors.
The fettuccine though, oh the fettuccine was like being home. So. Freaking. Good! Spicy Italian sauce is hard to pull off correctly, either being so overwhelming the spice no longer feels Italian, or too underwhelming as if they’d left the pepper out completely. Tomato and pepper had done their marriage counseling in this one and it shows, both balancing the other without bickering or vying for dominance. I could go back to La Bella Vita for this pasta alone and had me curious what other flavors would rouse my palate for a third and forth go.
