Bellissimo Indeed

Bottom to top - Pollo Bellissimo,
Spinaci e Fagioli, Pollo Sofia and my wife

No Longer in Business

Angelo is the best thing about Bellissimo in Altamonte Springs.  He greets you with a handshake, a grin, a hearty "Buona sera!" and maybe kisses the ladies (well he gave my wife one, anyway - I need to explain the restaurant term bussing to him).  One of the partners, he makes the rounds of the dozen or so tables and makes sure everyone is having a party, even encouraging guests to chat with strangers at other tables.  It's a neighborhood place and he tries to make everyone feel like neighbors.

For Angelo to surpass the food is quite a feat.  I'm certain the restaurant is named for its Pollo Bellissimo and not the other way around.  Chicken breasts pounded pancake thin, sautéed and topped with mushrooms in a brandy balsamic sauce is without doubt the best Italian dish I have ever been served.

My wife claimed her Pollo Sofia was even better.  It was another sautéed breast covered with an herbal white sauce on a bed of spinach.  I tasted it and she does have an argument.

Spinaci e Fagioli

The accompaniments were also praiseworthy:  the sautéed veggies were well seasoned and flavorful (I usually consider zucchini strictly ornamental) and roasted potatoes coated with olive oil were light and delicious.  One side item, Spinaci e Fagioli - spinach and beans - sounded too interesting to pass up so I ordered it for myself.  What I got for my $3 was a family sized plate of white beans and properly wilted spinach that we shared and then took the other half home.

My half of the Caesar Salad

Only the starters seemed weak, the bread and the greens in the house salad were standard commercial fare, pleasant but not up to the rest of the menu.  To be fair, though, we split an excellent Caeser Salad on our second visit, so we'll probably go that route from now on.

If you live near Altamonte Springs and want to meet some neighbors over dinner, Bellissimo is a good place.

Bellissimo Ristorante Italiano
520 West State Road 436 - Suite 1112
Altamonte Springs

On Broadway...

We have to go all the way to Broadway to get our pizza, but fortunately, Broadway Ristorante & Pizzeria is just down the street on SR 434 about where Altamonte Springs meets Longwood.  As the word Ristorante implies, there is more on the menu than pizza and it all looks very good, but we are just suckers for pie.  This is the best we've found without travelling out of town or back in time to college days (Mano's RIP).  The crust is relatively thin hand-tossed covered with a very New York Italian sauce with toppings sliced, chopped or sprinkled exactly right, for me anyway.

One thing I notice - call me weird - is when pizza and pasta places understand the two different lids for condiment shakers.  Round holes are for powders like Parmesan cheese: slotted openings are for the larger goodies, especially red pepper flakes.  As the picture shows, someone here gets it.

My only complaint is they no longer serve Newcastle, my preferred beverage with pizza.  The selection is still large enough I can choose from among Guinness, Bass and some other quite acceptable potables, but I still give them a hard time about it.

This neighborhood place seats about 30-40 inside with the bar and maybe twice that outside under canopies, where entertainers occasionally do their thing.

Tonight we had a large pie with mushrooms, onions and pepperoni, one beer and two sodas for about $27.