Business & Tech
Restaurant Review: La Collina Ristorante
The Belmont Hills landmark is the rare romantic spot that serves good food.
A famous food writer once wrote that the quality of food one is served is inversely proportional to the altitude at which you're dining, the point being that airplane food is bad as are the dishes served in restaurants at the top of skyscrapers or famous landmarks. For the most part, he was correct.
I have my own corollary to his equation and that is this: the more romantic a restaurant is, the lower the quality of food. Hyped-up romantic restaurants in my experience spend most of their energy and money on lighting, music, candles and the exorbitant rents that dining rooms with "a view" can fetch. Imagine my surprise when dinner at La Collina was both romantic and delicious. The menu features Italian specialties and numerous seafood options.
We sat down and were presented with menus then bread and a small plate of roasted peppers, olives and cubes of cheese. Little extras like these are what make this restaurant special. Be warned though, do not fill up on bread and roasted peppers as the portions are large.
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We began with cozze alla marinara (mussels marinara, $9.95) and vongole casino (clams casino-clams baked with bacon and herbs, $8.95). Both were tasty but the mussels marinara was the clear victor. We inhaled the mussels and sopped up the delicious sauce with bread.
For our next course we ordered the spaghettini bolognese (noodles thinner than spaghetti with meat sauce, $18.95), linguini con vongole (linguini noodles with clams in a red or white sauce, $19.95) and pollo alla marsala (chicken and mushrooms in marsala wine sauce, $18.95). The bolognese sauce was rich, hearty and generously heaped on top of a mountain of noodles. The linguini was perfectly cooked and the white sauce was prepared in the simple classic way: white wine, garlic, chili flake and parsley. The crown of opened clams was as always, visually stunning. The chicken marsala was tender and big enough for dinner and lunch the next day. There appeared to be more than one type of mushroom which added subtle differences in flavor and texture that elevated the dish.
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The "contorni" or vegetable and sides section of the menu had something I have never seen before: eggplant parmigiana (one of my favorites) offered as a side! Most restaurants offer it only as an entree or in a sandwich, but what if you don't want to commit your whole meal to it (confessions of an ADHD diner)? La Collina made my day with this one. In addition we had broccoli rabe which was accented with garlic, chili flake and plenty of olive oil. It's a vegetable that you either love or hate. I can wax poetic about the interplay between the bitterness and sweetness of the vegetable and will order it at every Italian restaurant I go to, while my father hates it because all he tastes is the bitterness.
We were stuffed to the gills but the allure of the rolling dessert cart in the dining room proved irresistible. We settled on a slice of Italian rum cake although the black forest cake, cheesecake, blackberries and cannolis were also enticing. The rum cake was exemplary. The layers of sponge cake were moistened with rum but didn't taste like alcohol, the chocolate and vanilla pastry creams were flavorful but not too sweet and the whipped cream was light and well balanced.
We enjoyed glasses of Sangiovese and Montepulciano (both fantastic Italian red wines) with our dinner. I would recommend the Sangiovese for those looking for a fruitier red and the Montepulciano for those looking for more body. The wine list is good and offers many wines by the glass (which I always appreciate). Keep an eye out for the wines from the Valent winery which is owned by the same family that owns the restaurant.
The decor is warm and inviting as are the people that work there. The lighting is dim, the views great, music is everywhere (piped in via the sound system or performed live at the bar) and the food and wine fantastic.
Drat—my first corollary in print and I have already proved myself wrong. Head to La Collina and mangia, with your loved one or not.