Restaurant of the Week: Pozzetto Italian Dining

pozzetto1

Pozzetto Italian Dining, 114 W. Bonita Ave. (at San Dimas Ave.), San Dimas

A friend recommended Pozzetto, an Italian restaurant in downtown San Dimas. I know and like the main drag of San Dimas, but I didn’t know Pozzetto. So recently I met a different friend there for lunch.

Pozzetto is small but cute, with a couple of outdoor tables along the wooden-sidewalk promenade and a few more inside. There’s also a wine bar and a mural of Venice sprawling across much of a wall. Pozzetto has all sorts of Italian items — salads, sandwiches, a dozen pastas — with only five pizzas.

I got one of the pizzas, whose name I forgot and which I can’t find online. All are Neapolitan style, a more traditionally Italian pizza; mine had tomatoes, olive oil, mozzarella and garlic ($10). It was a good lunch-sized pizza and I ate it all.

My friend had a roast beef sandwich ($7.50), served warm on a roll. He liked it and shared a portion with me. I’m not a big roast beef fan but I would consider ordering this sandwich myself.

Service was brisk; the lone server was handling about five tables by himself, but he did the best he could.

All in all, Pozzetto was a pretty decent mid-priced Italian spot. Thanks to my first friend for the recommendation and my second friend for joining me.

pozzetto2

pozzetto3

pozzetto4

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Restaurant of the Week: Cannataro’s

cannataros1

Cannataro’s, 12345 Mountain Ave. (at 60), Chino

Cannataro’s is a family owned Italian restaurant and one of the better-known eateries in Chino. That’s why, when friends and I were brainstorming a Chino place to meet at, Cannataro’s came up immediately as one we were curious about.

Located in a small shopping center on Mountain Avenue just below the 60 Freeway, Cannataro’s isn’t exactly in a Tuscan glade, but on the other hand it’s easy enough to find. The interior is casual and unpretentious. Apparently it was updated not long ago. The menu has pasta, seafood, chicken, veal and steak, sandwiches, calzones and pizzas. Entrees range from $7 to $17 and pizzas from $7 to $22.

We got our own entrees: pasta primavera ($12), pasta Cannataro’s ($12), a small Hawaiian pizza ($12, below) and an antipasto salad ($9, bottom). Two got Italian sodas ($3), vanilla and coconut, which they liked.

Reactions from those who ordered the dishes: The pasta primavera “needed salt.” (Luckily, this unusual seasoning could be found inches away.) The ham and pineapple pizza, whose right to exist was vigorously debated at our table, was nevertheless said to be “delicious.” The salad was “fantastic.” My pasta Cannataro’s (chicken breast in olive oil with basil and sundried tomatoes in penna pasta) was okay, but bland. I wouldn’t order it again.

Overall, we were satisfied, but unexcited. It’s worth mentioning too that the service was a little friendlier and more personal than the norm. Reviews on Yelp are all over the place: Cannataro’s gets 4 stars out of 5, but a lot of people are at one end or the other.

cannataros2

cannataros3

cannataros4

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Restaurant of the Week: Pasta Cucina Rustica

61020-pastacucina 003.jpg

Pasta Cucina Rustica, 2086 Foothill Blvd. (at D), La Verne

Opened in 2010, Pasta Cucina Rustica is owned by the same family that has Aruffo’s in Claremont, an Italian restaurant I like. The La Verne location, which has a different menu and a similarly upscale casual vibe, is in a storefront in the Stater Bros. center, one of the city’s string of shopping centers along Foothill. It replaced Gambino’s.

The interior has wooden tables and booths, tile floors and vintage Italian advertising posters. It’s a little fancy but not off-putting. I was there for lunch with two friends and their baby and they immediately liked it (the baby’s reaction could not be determined).

The menu has pasta, seafood, sandwiches, soups, salads, pizzas, desserts, wine, beer and coffees. They also have items in smaller portions for seniors. Entrees top out at $17.

We had the parma rustica panini ($10), a ham and mozzarella sandwich on cheese-encrusted bread; a salsiccia pizza ($11) with sausage, peppers and sweet onions; cheese ravioli ($9); and a child’s portion of cheese ravioli ($7).

We all liked our entrees to greater or lesser degrees, with the sandwich being the highlight. The small loaf of rosemary bread they brought out was also delicious. The pizza had a barely-there crust with a cracker-like rim; it was unusual, but the one who ordered it liked it. My cheese ravioli was about what you’d expect.

My ravioli lunch portion, incidentally, was exactly the same size as the child’s portion, but $2 more, leading one person to joke that a budget diner might want to order child’s portions to go. Who would know? Also on the child’s menu: Nutella and red raspberry jam sandwich, provolone and mozzarella grilled cheese and chicken parmigiana strips. You know, that’s not a crazy idea…

Service was friendly and understanding of an infant’s needs, not to mention adults’ needs. We enjoyed ourselves.

61021-pastacucina 004.jpg
61022-pastacucina 007.jpg
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Restaurant of the Week: Pizza n’ Such

59766-pizzansuch 002.jpg
59767-pizzansuch 003.jpg

Pizza n’ Such, 202 Yale Ave. (at 2nd), Claremont

Not to be confused with Pizza ‘N Stuff in La Verne, its closest cousin by punctuation, Pizza n’ Such has been a Claremont fixture since 1979, family owned and operated.

A college and family favorite, the restaurant occupies a prominent corner downtown in a former bank, later a pharmacy, built in in 1912 — 100 years ago this year! — across from Starbucks and the Village Grille. In a nice touch, the blade sign on the corner is an altered and restored version of the pharmacy sign that hung there for many years.

The interior includes a wooden bar with beer and wine, green booths, dark wood, a high ceiling, original moldings and hanging lamps and fans. It’s classy but casual.

I end up there probably once a year and once had a birthday lunch there with a group. I went in recently for lunch because I had a birthday coupon for a free medium pizza as long as I ordered a starter. So I got the house salad ($4) and then a medium with spinach (usually $14).

Their crusts are soft and doughy and the pizzas generous with the tomato sauce. The result is a bit bland, but fair. By personal preference I’m more of a thin-crust guy, and with zPizza, Union on Yale and La Parolaccia all in the Village, Pizza n’ Such might be my least favorite Village pizza. (Prompting a question: Why hasn’t someone capitalized on the local nomenclature to open a Village Pizzeria?)

Pizza n’ Such, though, is a lot of people’s favorite, and if it’s not my first choice, and often I kind of overlook it, I’m always happy if a friend suggests meeting there: Oh, yeah, Pizza n’ Such.

Service is friendly and generally provided by high school or college students. Besides pizzas, they have sub sandwiches, salads and pastas, and for dessert they have Dr. Bob’s ice cream, a local favorite. That’s the n’ Such.

59768-pizzansuch 001.jpg
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Restaurant of the Week: Aruffo’s Italian Cuisine

45882-aruffos 005.jpg

Aruffo’s Italian Cuisine, 126 Yale Ave. (at 2nd), Claremont

Sometimes restaurants become so familiar we sort of forget they’re there. I see Aruffo’s all the time and yet don’t see it. Aruffo’s opened in 1986 and it’s near my house, but I’d only eaten there once, maybe 10 years ago, and my memory was of a solid but unspectacular lunch. Recently a friend who loves the place suggested it for lunch and I was happy for the excuse to renew my acquaintance.

aruffo3

And yet I couldn’t pinpoint which street in the Village it’s on, guessing Harvard but finding it one block over, on Yale. Oh, yeah, across from Some Crust. Aruffo’s is quite pleasant inside, with lovely murals and vintage posters and an upscale feel. A delicious round loaf of herbed bread was delivered to our table. I had the salmon Caesar ($15, I think), which was topped with ocean-caught, not farm-raised, salmon. It was delicious too. My friend was likewise impressed by her arugula salad.

In other words, Aruffo’s made a strong second impression.

aruffo1

Update April 2016: And a strong third impression. I ate here with an Italian friend who loved her ravioli dish. I got the salmon caesar again.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Restaurant of the Week: Johnny Carino’s

carinos

Johnny Carino’s, 12240 Foothill Blvd. (at Day Creek), Rancho Cucamonga

Carino’s is an Italian chain with a location near Victoria Gardens. I stopped in for lunch last week while I was in the ‘hood.

It wasn’t packed — is any place packed for lunch these days? — but there were several full tables. The greeter, who turned out to be the manager, sat me in the bar area. There’s a lot of wood and a moderately classy feel to the decor.

A basket of doughy hot rolls was brought out, as was a plate of roasted garlic and olive oil for dipping. I ordered the salad/sandwich combo, getting a Caesar salad and half an Italian meatball panini ($8.99).

The salad was blah, but the sandwich, loaded with split meatballs, provolone and marinara, was inhaled. Housemade potato chips, not bad, accompanied the sandwich.

Johnny Carino’s is perhaps slightly better than Olive Garden, although your mileage may vary. Find the lunch and dinner menus here.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Restaurant of the Week: La Parolaccia

parolaccia4

Now Il Mattone Trattoria

La Parolaccia Osteria Italiana, 201 N. Indian Hill Blvd. (at 2nd), Claremont

This is the newest restaurant in the Village Expansion, an “osteria Italiana” (with a second location in Long Beach) whose name is said to translate, amusingly, as “bad language.” The restaurant, which opened a couple of months ago, took off immediately — the place always seems to be jumping — and I finally visited with a friend Thursday evening. We made reservations for 7 p.m. and reservations turned out to be a good idea, as even on a Thursday the restaurant was almost full.

They have a selection of pizzas cooked in a wood-burning oven, some with unusual ingredients such as eggplant, smoked salmon, yellow squash and goat cheese. Pastas include ravioli, linguine and fettucine, often with pesto, olive oil or other non-marinara treatments.

We had the Napoletana pizza ($12.50) with tomato sauce, mozzarella, capers, black olives and anchovies, and the linguine con i frutti di mare ($18.50), with fresh seafood. The latter was essentially a bowl of seafood (scallops, shrimp, clams, etc.) with a dollop of linguine and was quite good. The pizza, after I got past my unrealistic expectations that it would be as creative as Pizzeria Mozza’s in L.A., proved quite good as well, thin and crisp.

For dessert, the waitress recommended bread pudding ($9), which came with a scoop of gelato. She was on the money.

The meal didn’t proceed without hiccups: Perhaps the waitress hadn’t understood your soft-spoken blogger’s order, because we got a different linguine; it was returned and out came the right one, except, kitchen’s fault, they forgot to add the pasta. But this was quickly remedied and we were charged for the initial, mistaken dish, which was $4.75 cheaper, leaving nothing to object to.

I’d rank La Parolaccia among the valley’s better Italian restaurants, given the creative menu, but would like to reserve special praise for the location and atmosphere. Tables are close together, but not too close, so you get a friendly buzz from a roomful of people unseparated by booths or partitions. Service was friendly and prompt.

And from the exterior, the enormous windows show off people having a good time, in close proximity to a sidewalk, busy street and movie theater. It’s both urban and urbane. As a pedestrian I’ve seen other passersby cast an envious glance inside or closely examine the menu posted outside. La Parolaccia seems like a restaurant in Pasadena, not Claremont. I’m glad it’s here instead.

* Update April 2014: Spoiling the effect, they put curtains in the windows a year or so in, presumably due to complaints from privacy-conscious Claremonters who wouldn’t dream of dining al fresco. I’ve eaten here a few times since my 2008 writeup, including a lunch this month to celebrate birthdays and update this post with photos. I had the ravioli with spinach and ricotta ($13.50, below), a friend had a classico panini ($10, below that) and we shared an enormous tiramisu the size of a block of lasagna ($7.50, bottom). Service was deft and professional. Still a good spot.

parolaccia1

parolaccia3

parolaccia2

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email

Restaurant of the Week: Anthony’s Italian Kitchen

anthonys1

Anthony’s Italian Kitchen, 11368 Kenyon Way (at Milliken), Rancho Cucamonga

At last week’s Rancho Cucamonga council meeting, a proclamation was given to Anthony’s Italian Kitchen in honor of — wait for it — 10 years in business. Does a decade in young Rancho Cucamonga qualify you as historic?

Despite the arguably premature award, I had to admit I hadn’t eaten at Anthony’s, nor had I even heard of it. To erase my shame, I headed to the Albertsons shopping center on Milliken just below the 210 for lunch Monday to try it out. The center doesn’t appear to be thriving. Anthony’s is one of just two or three restaurants.

It’s a real hole in the wall, with just four tables. Two were occupied by sheriff’s deputies, who soon had to rush out on a call, and the other by a lone diner.

The walls are crowded with plaques from youth sports teams and testimonials from fans. A postcard from one admirer begins: “In the Last Judgment, Anthony’s Pizza will sit at the right hand. It’s that good!” The far wall (which isn’t that far) has three video games and a pinball machine with a “Demolition Man” theme, a tie-in to the 1993 Sly Stallone-Sandra Bullock movie.

More deputies came in, and a steady stream of people arrived to pick up take-out orders, including a man with an eight-ball tattooed on his neck; I hope he had better luck with his meatball sub than with the rest of his life. The lone diner told me I looked familiar and asked if I’m a writer. I replied that I write for the Daily Bulletin and my picture is in the paper. “Brewster?” he inquired. Stifling a sob, I gave him my name, and he said he likes my work, although I’m wondering if he was complimenting me or Lou Brewster.

I’ll tell you now that my gold standard is San Biagio’s New York Pizza in Upland, where I always get the single slice, salad and soda combo, for $5.12. There is no single slice-salad combo at Anthony’s, so to get a salad I got the No. 3 combo: two slices of cheese pizza, a salad and a soda, all for $6.89.

The Anthony’s salad is very similar to Biagio’s, being iceberg, shredded mozzarella, tomatoes and black olives. The pizza is similar too, thin crust with a lightly spiced sauce, but with (maybe) a bit more cheese, marginally thicker crust and a slightly wider cut.

Excellent stuff, and at first blush I’d rank Anthony’s a close second to Biagio’s for Inland Valley pizza. (If you prefer a medium or thick crust, you’ll have your own opinions.) The menu includes a dozen specialty pizzas, hot and cold subs and a range of pastas.

I thank the Rancho Cucamonga council for tipping me off to a good restaurant, and hope Anthony’s makes it another 10 years, and beyond.

* Update, February 2014: They’ve made it another seven years, to 17. I returned for two cheese slices and a soda ($6.43 with tax), and to take photos. Excellent pizza: Slices are thin crust, doughier at the edge, and measure about nine inches wide. Two made for a filling lunch. The menu has a lot of specialty pizzas, 15 subs and a few pastas. The video games are gone, but seating is still limited, with a few more seats outdoors; it’s largely takeout and delivery.

anthonys2

anthonys3

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plusone Linkedin Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email