Buona Sera Ristorante & Wine Bar (Champlin, MN) ~ Dinner with Matt and his lovely wife Gina. The Owner has taken great care to transport us to a little slice of Italy (to be more precise, Calabria). The restaurant has been expanded for more seating, and the addition of beautifully hand-painted murals, and a few window-wall plasma TVs that run videos of stunning Italian scenery, add real warmth and coziness. Al fresco dining can be enjoyed outside in a nicely landscaped terrace; herb and vegetable gardens just reinforce the dimension of being someplace special.
The Bruschetta was authentic with a nice touch of good olive oil; so too were the prawns lightly dusted with fine herbed breadcrumbs then fried and served with a tasty chipotle mayonnaise sauce (chipotle is not really Italian I suppose, but I’m not complaining).
The Sea Food Chowder was creamy and ample.
The salads came with our choice of dressing; the greens cool and crisp and everything fresh. The house balsamic vinaigrette was wonderful.
For dinner, Matt had one of the specials, Steak Cacciatore. This was a nice NY Strip, perfectly cooked to his liking nested in a rustic sauce of capers, artichokes, kalamata olives, etc. I sampled a thin slice and was in full agreement with Matt with regard to the detail and execution of the dish. Gina had a Penne Carbonata in a cream sauce; we were all amazed at her ability to work through that family-style serving! I had the Veal Marsala and was quite pleased with the generous servings of perfectly prepared veal and a very nice wine-reduction crème sauce, with plenty of mushrooms. Matt and I were also served our selection of penne in a marinara sauce as a side, among the several offered.
The desserts were quite remarkable: excellent home-made apricot gelato (about the very best gelato I have ever had!) Several other flavors were also available) and a wonderfully composed vanilla bean Crème Brule! The espresso was the final touch to a great diner.
The Bruschetta was authentic with a nice touch of good olive oil; so too were the prawns lightly dusted with fine herbed breadcrumbs then fried and served with a tasty chipotle mayonnaise sauce (chipotle is not really Italian I suppose, but I’m not complaining).
The Sea Food Chowder was creamy and ample.
The salads came with our choice of dressing; the greens cool and crisp and everything fresh. The house balsamic vinaigrette was wonderful.
For dinner, Matt had one of the specials, Steak Cacciatore. This was a nice NY Strip, perfectly cooked to his liking nested in a rustic sauce of capers, artichokes, kalamata olives, etc. I sampled a thin slice and was in full agreement with Matt with regard to the detail and execution of the dish. Gina had a Penne Carbonata in a cream sauce; we were all amazed at her ability to work through that family-style serving! I had the Veal Marsala and was quite pleased with the generous servings of perfectly prepared veal and a very nice wine-reduction crème sauce, with plenty of mushrooms. Matt and I were also served our selection of penne in a marinara sauce as a side, among the several offered.
The desserts were quite remarkable: excellent home-made apricot gelato (about the very best gelato I have ever had!) Several other flavors were also available) and a wonderfully composed vanilla bean Crème Brule! The espresso was the final touch to a great diner.
Matt can’t just let me be. He keeps reeling me in, no rest, and no opportunity for recovery time; I’m almost done in… In a food induced miasma, I went to brush something off of my cheek ~ a fly? Nope, it was the table.
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