23A First Avenue South
Williams Lake, BC V2G 1M4
250-398-7170
M-Sa: 11a – 8p/ Su: closed
July 26th, 2011
As it turns out, Mr O had never been to Trattoria’s before… and it’s been over a year since I last ate here… so of course you can guess where we had dinner tonight. It’s a seat-yourself establishment and menus await you at each place setting. The interior is cozy and rustic with well-worn hardwood floors and framed pictures scenic Italy. Dominating the space behind the counter was a chalkboard listing the many choices of Italian soda that’s available, and the mismatched chairs lends a hand in creating an inviting homely environment, akin to eating at your auntie’s home.
Pasta is the obvious star of tonight’s menu, but there’s a variety of salads to choose from if you happen to have a lighter appetite. Mr O was intrigued by today’s special, which was linguini with a spicy Italian sausage, and I ordered the Tortellini Pesto. For starters we decided to try the bruschetta.
My knowledge of Italian cuisine is admittedly not the greatest because I don’t often find myself eating Italian food. This was my first time trying bruschetta, which is something I’m only familiar with all thanks to the Food Network. Conferring with Mr Wiki, bruschetta can be referred to either the bread itself, according to hard core Italians, or the topping, according to our Americanized (er… Canadianized?) culture. The baguette rounds our appetizer came with were neither toasted, nor rubbed with garlic or any seasonings, so the leading role here is played by the topping… which was amazing. Imagine fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil all chopped up and macerated together in a magical harmony by good olive oil and fresh parmesan. It’s refreshing and full of wonderful subtle flavours, which was not at all what I expected since there’s garlic and parm at play here. Only five baguette rounds came with the starter though, so I graciously gave away the odd one out to Mr O.
...bruschetta for two...
When his dinner-sized meal arrived at the table, I had to halt him for a moment before he was able to dive right into the pasta. It was full of mushroom, bell peppers, spring onions, and fresh tomatoes, stirred into a pesto cream sauce. The slices of spicy Italian sausage were well distributed, and the noodles were a perfect al dente texture. Pesto is absolutely delicious and it coats the noodles beautifully. It lends a nice basil taste and compliments the kick you get out of the spicy sausage.
...pesto ala linguini...
I decided to get only the lunch-sized version of the Tortellini Pesto tonight because I was adamant that I’d have room left for dessert. And thank goodness I did because I ended up having to pack some of it away in a to-go box. Not from lack of trying mind you, as the dish was delicious. It had the same pesto cream sauce and it coats cheese-filled bite-sized tortellini. Mushrooms and bits of bacon give it a different taste profile from Mr O’s dinner and whole pine nuts garnished the entire thing.
...pesto ala tortellini...
But like I said, I was insistent that there’d be dessert and I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that the desserts were all homemade. Up for offer are whipped cheesecake, tiramisu, and afternoon delight, which sounded like a chocolate-y layered dessert. I’m all about the tiramisu (it’s practically the only thing Italian that I yearn for) and Mr O didn’t even need to think twice about the cheesecake.
And what a cheesecake! It was ultra-smooth, fluffy, and melt-in-your-mouth good. You get a choice out of three fruity toppings and ours came with strawberries. My tiramisu was equally good although the lady fingers had soaked up more of the coffee than I would’ve preferred. Still, that didn’t stop me from plowing through the velvety layers of mascarpone and moist sponge cake. However I still managed to maintain the decorum of a proper lady and didn’t try to lick the bits of chocolate off of my plate. Momma would be so proud.
...cheesy cake...
...tiramisu heaven...
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