I had been hearing about Bella Luna for a while. I heard that is was independently owned, that it had a beautiful ambience and inventive upscale Italian cuisine but what really got me to go and check it out was that I heard they had a beautiful gargantuan Cassata – Sicilian wedding cake – with layers of sweetened ricotta cheese, white cake and candied fruits . I love a good Cassata and it was a night on one of these rare occasions that I was craving some pasta (mostly I am a really bad Italian, as I do not like eating lots of pasta) and in celebration of our pending nuptials that we decided to check out Bella Luna, celebrate a bit with my mom and see for ourselves!

From the outside there are clues to its nice ambience with statuary and fountains reminiscent of Italy tucked in among the shrubbery. We were greeted at the door by their specials board and immediately my eye caught one of the salads – Radicchio Involtini stuffed with goat cheese and walnuts, served warm. All of these foods paired up together in a warm salad, you just cannot go wrong. I knew with the creativity of this dish, we were in for a treat. As we walked through the doors, there looming in the foreground was the afore mentioned cake – the huge dome shaped Cassata staring me down. It was fluffy with whipped cream and dotted with the candied fruits Sicilians so adore in their sweets. I knew at that moment we’d be having a showdown at the end of the meal.

We were greeted by our waitress, whose Mother is from Naples and much to our delight spoke Italian. She was very friendly and helpful pointing out that since we were there before 6 PM their house wines were on special, buy one, get one free. So mom and I opted for the Chablis , while Roberto went for a Peroni – a top shelf version that he never saw in Italy – so apparently not only do the Italians export the best Pamiggiano-Regianno but they also export the better Peroni.

Perusing the menu we saw a lot of choices from poultry, to seafood and meats as well as pastas. However, the daily specials were again taking our attention. I decided to go for the salad which was as I had hoped warm, delicious and beautiful.

Roberto had the Sicilian Eggplant Timballo served with pasta. It was hearty and delicious, however he would have liked a little sweeter of a sauce.

Mom went for the Shrimp Portofino which had a delicious, light seafood sauce. Its simplicity was it’s winning point – there was no reason to make it more complex as it was just wonderfully flavorful!

At last it was time to taste the Cassata. We all decided to share a piece based on its height. It came to us with a beautiful raspberry sauce and a nice vanilla custard swirl. It was light and delicious and turned out to be a Zuppe Anglese – which is essentially an Italian Trifle. I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to my next trip to Bella Luna.

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