Not Your Usual Italian Restaurant but a step beyond!
Written: Feb 01 '06
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Pros: Excellent menu, food, service & moderate prices
Cons: none that I can think of
The Bottom Line: Good food, service, menu at moderate prices! What's not to like?
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| tennis_player's Full Review: De La Torre's Trattoria |
Del a Torres is a very unique neighborhood Italian restaurant in the Eastbay bedroom community of Pleasanton. It is in a small shopping center anchored by a large supermarket, Albertsons, and is sandwiched in between a dry cleaner and a beauty shop. It's relatively small and unpretentious but the food is, often, outstanding and moderately priced. This makes for one of the best values in town when considering the quality/price ratio.
The dining room is rectangular with the door in the center of the front flanked by large picture windows on both sides. Upon entry the guests find themselves in a small alcove formed by the a screen divider and a small table holding take-out menus and business cards. Here, there is a chalkboard on a stand listing the specials of the day. Going left or right provides entry into the main dining room. There are booths down both side walls with tables in the center that allow for flexibility in rearranging seating to suit various sized groups. The kitchen is at the rear of the room.
What really makes this place unique is the menu. The printed menu is that of a well-rounded Italian place complete with appetizers, antipasti items, salads, pastas, secondi (main course items) that includes seafood, meats and fowl. There are also the standard pizzas and calzones. Menu prices for pasta dishes range from $8.95 to $14.95, meats and fowl dishes range $12.95 to $15.95 with steaks topping out at $17.95. Dinners include a soup or house salad. These items are all very easy to comprehend and appreciate. However, the real stars of the cuisine lie in the specials of the day posted on the chalkboard. These offerings show a whole new view of the culinary talents available to the diners of this fine establishment. Here are the specials for just one day:
Clams Casino
Winter Salad: Roasted Beets, goat cheese, pistachios, raspberry vinaigrette
Fresh Petrale Sole
Braised Lamb Pot Roast
Italian Meat Loaf
Turkey Spiedini
Pork Involtini w/crispy polenta (rolled, stuffed pork slices like a roulade)
Pan Seared Chicken Breast
New York Sirloin Steak
Vitello (veal) ala Parmigiano
Scallepine de Vitello in Marsala wine sauce
Gamberoni (shrimp) Salute
There is a very good reason for this long list of higher class cuisine. The owner/chef is a San Francisco Culinary Academy graduate. He worked in different places for a number of places but when it came time to open his own place, he bought this existing Italian restaurant and kept that menu in order to retain the goodwill and loyalty of the regular patrons and then added things that go far beyond the existing Italian menu. The result is a nice, comfortable, casual, neighborhood place that fits many tastes, budgets and tastes. It works nicely and is a good fit in the area. They're always busy.
On our last visit, I had the Braised Lamb Pot Roast and my wife had the Italian Meatloaf. My lamb was exquisite. It was very tender and the sauce was a very tasty red wine sauce reduction. It normally came with rosemary garlic mashed potatoes but I saw that he had coupled polenta with the Pork Involtini and I asked them to substitute the potatoes with polenta. It was a great trade. Dinners come with a choice of soup or salad. I chose the soup (Minestrone) and we split the Winter Salad. My wife loves the Italian Meatloaf. It came with the mashed potatoes (she loves it, too). This meatloaf is made with veal, beef, pork and Italian Sausage. It is wonderful - so good that we are on their "call list." They have a list of customers that want to be called every time they have it. I'm also on the "Duck list."
The two above entrees along with the extra salad and a glass of Chianti Classico Reserva - all came to $48, tax included but before tip.
The service is excellent, the place is comfortable and pleasant and the food quality has always been very very high! This, of course, is the best combination and results in a superb value.
Jim
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations Everything he does is good!
Best Suited For: Friends
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