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Aliotta's
Via Firenze
Reviewed By World Famous Food Critic
Elmer Dills
Source: elmerdills.com, August 30, 2000
Reviewed By World Famous Food Critic
Elmer Dills
Source: elmerdills.com, August 30, 2000
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Restaurant Detail | ||
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Food: B+ |
ALIOTTA'S
VIA FIRENZE' 4485 Torrance Boulevard Torrance, CA 90503 Phone: (310) 371-9555 Fax: (310) 921-3099 Business Hours: Dinner Nightly from 5:00; Lunch M-F Reviewed by: Judy Kilpatrick on 8/30/00 ITALIANO IN TORRANCE So there's an Italian restaurant on every LA block. So they're all like movie theaters, same menu in every one from lasagna to scaloppini. So what's the point to traveling 20 miles for the same old? The point is that in a strip mall in the middle of Torrance Chef Michael Aliotta, who spent eleven years at Antonello's in Costa Mesa, and in the dining room his wife, Theresa, and at the door his mother-in-law, Sophia Loren (not really but she could fool me) have created a ravishing and ravishingly different experience, ALIOTTA'S VIA FIRENZE'. Theresa has put her stamp on the large room with gold accents, grape bunches and leaves painted on weight-bearing columns, and black napkins twisted and put in tall thin wine glasses-they look like bread sticks early in the evening. The subdued lighting is just right. Yes, of course, you can get traditional dishes, prepared better than almost any place else, but you can also get specials prepared like nowhere else. Buratta, for example, an appetizer, is the softest, creamiest, most delicate mozzarella imaginable, wrapped in Parma's best, accompanied by bruschetta with fresh diced tomato, garlic and basil on top, and all set on the freshest greens. ($9.50) Escolar, a main course, we special-ordered in an herb and garlic flavored sauce I can only call scampi-like. (All herbs are grown on premises in large wooden boxes.) We could have had it over mashed potatoes or spinach-and no one does fresh spinach like the Italians. Osso buco-lamb shank-was offered over risotto, unless one wanted it with something else. Signor Aliotta and mostly Italian wait staff encourage guests to request dishes for the kitchen to prepare. If you are especially fond of a particular meat, fish, or pasta entree, call ahead to be certain the ingredients are available. Another time I had a veal rack with garlicky brown demi-glace covered with mushroom slices and a ubiquitous trio of carrots, zucchini, and cauliflower. When the fresh sage leaf is inserted between the scaloppine and the ham for Saltinbocca, you experience the difference between fresh and dried herbs. Then there are pastas, from Crespelle to Puttanesca to handmade Rotelle al Forno, for instance, baked in sheets like lasagna, rolled with prosciutto cotto, mozzarella and béchamel, and served in a vodka tomato cream sauce. Better yet, create your own combination. The carefully selected and fairly priced wine list includes many Italians, and more reds than whites. LaVazza espresso to accompany a house-made dessert torta di la nona, or an ethereal zabaglione with mixed berries, and you've completed a mini excursion to Italy. |
