Bellini

Yesterday we braved the slushy roads after the snowstorm and ventured out to Bellini for dinner. Bad weather is a great time to go anywhere that's typically busy since no one else wants to. It usually means little to no wait, which is a nice treat on a Friday night during the peak dinner hour.

Bellini is located close to downtown and is in an old church built in 1897. It has beautiful stained glass windows and the furnishings complement the location, even if they're not particularly comfortable.

We started with the meatballs as an appetizer which were fantastic! The combination of the meatballs, sauce, mushrooms and spinach was divine. If they offered an entree size, I think I would order it all the time!

The gluten free items are now marked on the menu, which is helpful. Although the pasta dishes are not marked as gluten free, they usually offer some of them with gluten free pasta. Yesterday, however, they were out of GF pasta which was somewhat disappointing. This did, however, offer the opportunity to try something new from the menu. I ordered the Sogliola alla Romesco which is a fillet of sole in slightly spicy roasted red pepper and almond butter sauce served with green beans. The flavor is similar to Harissa and was pretty good.

My husband ordered the Gamberi al Forno which has jumbo shrimp in a white wine sauce with mashed potatoes. It is also listed as GF and so I tried a bite of that as well. The shrimp are huge and pretty tasty, although I think the sauce was fairly average.

The Flourless chocolate cake is the only GF dessert and we were in the mood for some so we ordered that as well. I prefer mine to be more chocolaty than this one was, but it wasn't bad.

I would definitely say the meatballs were the highlight of the meal and in the future, I would order these as a starter and probably one of the pasta dishes if they have pasta on hand. In the past I've had the Gamberi alla Diavola which has the jumbo shrimp in a slightly spicy vodka tomato cream sauce over GF pasta and I can highly recommend that dish.

This may be the third or fourth time I've actually eaten at Bellini although I've been there several other times when the restaurant has been closed for a private event, usually a wedding reception. If you've ever been here, you know why it's such a popular location. It really is a gorgeous building both inside and out. If you're planning to go there during wedding season, I'd definitely recommend calling ahead to make sure they're open to the public. Enjoy!