Osteria Nino: A Taste of Rome in Burlington, MA

I don't know much about the restaurants in Burlington (although I know you should definitely go to Sichuan Garden / Baldwin Bar in nearby Woburn) but now I can recommend at least one place to eat. Osteria Nino near the Wegman's in Burlington is a solid osteria serving popular items from Rome and beyond.

The breading on the fried calamari is nice and light, they're served with a tangy fra diavolo sauce.

Since it's a Roman osteria, the signature dish is the cacio e pepe - a simple and traditional dish of spaghetti, cracked black pepper, and pecorino romano.

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The Best Tiramisu in Venice, Italy: I Tre Mercanti

I love tiramisu. I've loved tiramisu ever since I can remember having eaten tiramisu. Tiramisu is supposedly invented in 1969 in Treviso, near Venice, so I figured being in Venice got me close enough to hunt for a great one. An online search turned up I Tre Mercanti as a potential contender.

This cute little shop sells tiramisu, macarons, wines, olive oils and other sundries.

But of course, I'm here for the tiramisu. Multiple tiramisus, in fact. I Tre Mercanti has many flavors of tiramisu, from the classic (coffee), mango, amaretto, pistachio. They claim that they make them fresh every hour, and when they do you can actually see the action through the window.

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Fiorella's (Newton, MA)

Fiorella's in Newton has been around for 15 years; the owner was only 23 when they opened. The restaurant used to be half the size and had since expanded to include the bar area. This restaurant has a lot of local following - it's off the beaten path and can be a little hard to find at first, but people keep returning and I went to find out why along with a group of other Boston bloggers.

Before sitting down for dinner, we mingled over a glass of Blueberry Smash, made with bourbon and blueberry simple syrup.

The new bar area

We shared some appetizers to start: Arancini (large crisp risotto ball stuffed with mozzarella cheese, served with their signature marinara sauce, $7)

A nice dish that also showcases their marinara sauce. It's quite a comforting dish with the melted cheese and the hearty sauce.

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Brunch at Michael's Pizzeria (Long Beach, CA)

I've been meaning to try Michael's Pizzeria, but I haven't gone down to South Bay much lately.
I finally made the trek and visited the downtown Long Beach location for weekend brunch, and they had a musician playing guitar outside.

Michael's doesn't just serve pizzas, but they also have a special brunch menu, where you'll find dishes like Cast-iron baked cinnamon rolls with rosemary syrup

The cinnamon rolls are made to order, which means they are piping hot, fresh from the oven! They're mini-sized to make sharing easier and the green color for the rosemary syrup is actually from spinach (so it's healthy, right?). These are definitely great cinnamon rolls.

Cast-iron dishes are a special category at Michael's and include the Caprino e Carciofi (pesto, baby artichokes, potatoes, mozzarella, goat cheese)

I like these baked cast-iron dishes as a fun twist on the typical brunch dishes.

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Rino's Place, Old School Italian Gem in East Boston

Food-wise, it seems that people travel to East Boston for two reasons: Santarpio's and Rino's Place. They've both been institutions in what is called Eastie (Rino's Place has been around for about 25 years). The wait at Rino's Place can get so long that they opened a bar/cafe across the street called Prima E Dopo (which means Before and After) that they suggest people go while waiting. I purposefully came at an odd hour, around 3:30pm to avoid both the lunch and dinner crowds. I got seated immediately but the restaurant was still more than half full.

Layered eggplant with mozzarella and creamy pesto sauce. You can order half or a full order. The half is already plenty and is only $6.

Eggplant parmigiana is one of my favorite comfort food and I knew I was going to like this variation since I love pesto. I was right and I had to stop myself from devouring the entire thing since I still had another dish coming.

I came for this: the housemade ravioli filled with ricotta cheese. This dish is nominated for Best Pasta for the upcoming Chowzter North American awards. (A similar dish but stuffed with both lobster and ricotta has been featured on Food Network).

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Il Piccolo Verde (Brentwood)

With the rise of inventive and off-the-wall menus these days, we sometimes forget how good how good old school cooking is - like classic Italian, for example. At Il Piccolo Verde, a cute, small, Italian place in Brentwood, I was recently reminded of it.

The Baked eggplant parmigiana is a bit different, since it is stuffed with zucchini ($12)

There's an old school wood fired pizza oven here.

We tried the Pizza Napoletana, topped with tomato sauce, fresh burrata, and basil

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Winter Cocktail Pairing at Trattoria Neapolis (Pasadena, CA)

Ken Baranda has left the bar at Trattoria Neapolis, but his successor, Chris Doyle, is doing just fine, as exemplified by his winter cocktails.

The first cocktail I tried during a recent tasting was a warm one, a variation of hot buttered rum: Fireside (Appleton dark rum, Matusalem light rum, butter, cloves, vanilla, cinnamon, orange zest)

Not too heavy, warm, and would be perfect on chilly nights.
The cocktails were paired with some bites. The Fireside was paired with some Beef short rib "manwiches" on house focaccia

Darling Clementine (Tito's vodka, fresh clementine juice, housemade cranberry ginger chutney, Combier, fresh orange and lemon juices)

Clementines are a great citrus alternative for cocktails! This drink was so refreshing but with some spice from the ginger chutney. We all loved this one. Despite my usual snobby tendency to avoid vodka cocktails, this was my favorite.

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Soleto: Solid Italian and Housemade Limoncello in Downtown LA

The South Park district in downtown Los Angeles is getting more and more exciting with two new restaurant openings. One of them is Soleto, an upscale Italian restaurant from the IDG Restaurant Group which took over the old Zucca space. Soleto is run by Executive Chef Sascha Lyon who is also in charge of the kitchen at Delphine.

I say it's upscale, but Soleto has a pretty great happy hour (M-F, 3-7pm), especially where the food is concerned. There were quite a few items that were all really cheap and good! The portion sizes are quite good as well. Here are some of the happy hour items we tried:

Shrimp Oreganato ($5)

This whole pot of shrimp for $5? You can come here for an early dinner during happy hour and have a feast!

This Sauteed Calamari with Anaheim chili and tomatoes is also only $5!

Much more interesting and better than the typical fried calamari.

I also recommend the Charred Cauliflower, Grana Padano, parsley ($3)

Grana Padano is a hard Italian cheese, similar in texture to parmesan cheese but milder. You'll see this cheese in many of Soleto's dishes. 

For drinks, there are sangria and "cello spritzer" (one of their housemade limoncellos/orange-cellos with soda) for $3.

OK, so that's happy hour. Now, on to dinner.

You won't really find duplicates from the happy hour menu here. The popular appetizers include Grilled Oyster Mushrooms, grana padano, white truffle lemon vinaigrette ($12)

These earthy mushrooms were made even better with the sprinkling of grana padano cheese. I can definitely eat these all day.

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