italian

What better way to bring family together than with food? More specifically, what’s better than Italian food to bring the family together? It was my cousin’s birthday and my other cousins were back in town for a little visit. Perfect time for a family gathering over food! Growing up, all I had were my cousins. All of my aunts and uncles congregated within less than a mile away from each other. This meant that I grew up hanging out with my cousins almost daily. Some of my fondest memories as a child included my cousins. Now, we are all grown up. Double gulps from 7-11 turned into conversations over coffee, and ordering pizza for birthdays turned into dining out as a family, namely Osteria Mamma.

To start, we had bread, butter and Frittura Mista. The frittuta mista had fried calamari, shrimp, zucchini, and carrots. The calamari was cooked nicely and not rubbery. The zucchini and carrots were good in this dish, but the moisture made the whole plate kind of soggy — not good for something that is fried. The shrimp though was nice and flavorful. It was a perfect starter for a large group like ours.

The girlfriend and I shared the Pappardelle al Fumo. The thick Tagliatelle did a grreat job soaking up all that gorgeous pink sauce. The bits of pancetta added a nice smoky and salty element to the dish. Scamorza cheese and oregano topped this dish off to make it quite delicious. I might regret saying this, but the pancetta was too overpowering in this dish. A little more green herbs or less smoky bacon would have been a better fit.

I had a taste of their lasagne and wasn’t really impressed. I know here in America, “Lasagna” ends with an “a”, but everyone else spells it lasagna. Anyways, the noodles were a bit soggy and I felt the dish needed to be seasoned a lot more. It may be that lasagne to me is a boring dish, but I really did not enjoy this one. To me, it needed to be more robust with meat sauce or herbs. Theirs was kind of plain with noodles, marinara, and cheese — simple and dull.

The Tri Colori pasta dish was interesting to see. So colorful with red and green, it looked so festive. I had a taste — it was creamy and the noodles were so al dente. The texture, color and flavor was so pleasing. I also snagged a bite of the Gnocchi ai Porcini. Tossed in a light cream sauce, the porcini mushrooms in this was so full of earthy flavor. The pillowy gnocchi balls were so smooth and delicious. Not really a fan of gnocchi, I was hesitant about this dish. Osteria Mamma really knows how to make this dish delicious.

My favorite dish of the night was the Reginette della Mamma. Reginette, basically a ripple edged tagliatelle, was a perfect pasta for any sauce. The way the cream sauce clung onto the ripples, the pasta had great flavor and mouth feel. With pieces of guanciale and sausage, this was a meaty dish without being too pronounced. The Treviso radicchio helped round out all the rich flavors in this pasta dish. Each bite was creamy and unctuous in flavor. This is what a good pasta dish should be, and is.

Being a food blogger, my friends and family look to me for restaurants suggestions. I figured, Osteria La Buca is a trendy spot, Osteria Mamma will be more of a down at home kind of experience — perfect for a family gathering. The night was filled with amazing pastas with great company. I always see massive gatherings of Italian families around the table. There, the grandmother makes her signature pasta dish and everyone eats together. That to me is the happiest moment in our lives. Though we didn’t have our grandmother in the kitchen, “Mamma” was our grandma for the night. We gathered, we talked, and ate. This will forever be in my memory as our family.

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Is it just me or is Italian food the ultimate comfort food? You got carbs galore from pasta and pizza dough, and with melted cheese or sauce on top of all that, it’s the ultimate “good feeling” food. Though this will mean more time at the gym, sometimes pasta and bread is all a guy needs. C & O Cucina knows this and their restaurant in Venice / Marina Del Rey is as popular as ever. Always a wait, though not as much as C & O Ttrattoria, it is well worth it. This is an Italian food standard for anyone in the area.

As you already know, the garlic knots are sometimes the main attraction here. This time around, they weren’t as soft and luscious as I remembered. I know. What the heck are you talking about? It was a bit too crunchy on the outside and not as chewy on the inside. The strong herb mixture flavor was nice and was still a great start for our meal.

I tried the pappardelle with wild mushroom and chicken apple sausage. The wide noodle was cooked perfectly and made for perfect bites. With porcini, portobello and champignon mushrooms, the mushroom trio was the best part of this dish. To top it all off, the shallots in white wine tomato cream sauce gave this pasta dish its richness. The creamy mushroom sauce with pasta was classic comfort food. Topped with a showering of cheese made this unforgettable.

My lasagna bolognese was a treat as well. The best part was the rich meat sauce. There was a lot of large pieces of meat that was refreshing. It wasn’t left to a puree of meat and sauce. Coupled with perfectly al dente pasta, it was a perfect lasagna. I rarely order lasagna at restaurants, because they all taste the same to me. And really though, if its made right, they all do. Sometimes comfort food requires a plate of hot lasagna. Where are all my Garfield fans at? If you aren’t a lasagna fan, go for one of the pastas.

Though the menu is nearly identical C & O down the street, I feel the restaurant is quite different from each other. Trattoria felt more Italian — there was sining involved, rustic seating and you just had the feeling that you were eating dinner with everyone in the room. Cucina had more of an intimate feel with less character. Depending on what you are looking for, the food at both restaurants is quite delicious. From a comforting bowl of penne to creamy pasta dishes, any bad day can turn to a good one here. And yes, do fill up on the garlic knots.

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C & O Trattoria is one of those go to spots when you are in Venice, Marina De Rey area. The food is affordable and the selection is plenty. The best part is, once you enter, you feel like you are family. The staff is friendly — they even offer you garlic knots while you wait for a table. The wait for a table can be a while. Being right next to Venice Pier, you can walk around and shop around while you wait for your table. Once you take a seat, you are transferred to Italy and you are no longer at the beach.

C & O Trattoria and Cucina are all about garlic knots. Garlic knots, garlic knots, garlic knots. I think people come here just for these morsels of drug infused bread. It is warm, buttery, oregano-y (dried parsley?), and of course, garlicky, and you can get as much as you want! They even server it to the hungry patrons outside awaiting a table. I ordered mine with the tepenade– a bad idea. The garlic knots on their own are tasty. The olive tepenade just made things complicated and actually overpowered the simple goodness of the bread. You can easily fill up on garlic knots and you would have ordered your pasta dish for nothing. Eat sparingly. For the sake of garlic knots, I will try to write “garlic knots” as many time as I can along this post. Garlic knots? Yes. Garlic knots.

I ordered the fettuccine prosciutto. I know it sounds heavy, but it was quite delicate and balanced. It had prosciutto, mushrooms, roma tomatoes, and shallots in a brandy cream sauce. The prosciutto was a bit lacking — I was greedily expecting nice shavings of this stuff. I wished for so much prosciutto, I can make a prosciutto and garlic knot sandwich. Anyways, the fettuccine wasn’t home made by any means, but it was still delicious. Covered in the rich brandy cream sauce, this pasta dish was carb and cream heavy. The nice crunch of the shallots and tomatoes helped offset the richness a bit. With a blanket of Parmesan though, this was definitely a great heavy pasta dish. Add garlic knots to the equation and you got yourself a carb on carb overload.

Oh my garlic knots! I know with that cheese blanket it is difficult to see, but this indeed isn’t the same dish. The seafood pasta for me was taasty, but I am particular about seafood pasta. Using Penne is a good start, but an angel hair or even plain spaghetti would have been nice too. The mix of brocolli and tomatoes gave it nice color. The seafood though, that is where it all counts. The shrimp, salmon, and calamari were cooked surprisingly well. Expecting rubber bands, the calimari was actually soft and cooked to a near perfection. The shirmp was cooked decently and the salmon did a good job not being so over fishy. Though the seafood was prepared nicely, I still am not a fan of seafood and pasta together.

To me, pasta is all about the cheese and the noodles. Any meat that goes well with cheese (beef, sausage, prosciutto, chicken, meat balls) is a good thing. Seafood, the ultimate don’t-eat-with-cheese food worked alright in pasta, but for me, not so much. I will gladly take chicken fettuccine alfredo over shrimp. A bit off because, well, I love seafood. In fact, I would like to know where the best place to get a seafood pasta. That would truly be a gem. C & O Trattoria keeps a decent amount of authenticity to the feel of Italy. Not saying that the food is 100% just like you will find in Italy, but the atmosphere seems to work. I mean, I’ve never been to Italy, but I’ve been to The Venetian in Vegas a bunch of times — and I hear that’s practically a carbon copy. From the city, to the beach, to Italy — that is the natural transition I found myself in. The food was decent and the service was even better. They even sang “That’s Amore” in the middle of dinner service. All the waiters, servers, and hosts stopped what they were doing, walking around with their wine glasses and touched glasses with everyone. For those without an imagination, there is a video clip for you above. The experience was fun and the food was decent. It wasn’t the best pasta or Italian I ever had, but the experience was great. Garlic knots!

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