Sitting at 301 Heymann Blvd. is the quiet Italian restaurant Cafe Bella. Not far from the University, this local spot could be a good contender for your Valentine’s Day plans.
The restaurant was originally named Bella Figura, and was located on Kaliste Saloom Rd. The spot renamed and relocated itself in 2013, and the French Cafe La Madeleine now occupies Cafe Bella’s old spot. The current location has split weekday operating hours during the midday and evening for separate lunch and dinner services. This gives attendees a large variety of dishes to try across the two menus, on top of their dessert menu.
The antipasti (appetizer) and insalata (salad) menus remain largely the same from lunch to dinner. Their appetizers range from vegetable, meat and seafood-based options—just to name a few: Roasted Eggplant Dip, Grilled Italian Sausage and Shrimp and Crab Cocktail. All of their appetizers hover between $10 to $15.
Their salad menu contains Italian classics such as Caesar and Caprese. They also have more unique flavor options such as Pear and Gorgonzola or Tuna and Avocado. Their salads range from $12 to $17.
Depending on your budget and palette, the lunch or dinner menu may suit better. The lunch menu is less expensive, around $15 per entree. The dinner menu, in contrast, has more options and a higher price tag, averaging around $30 per entree. There are less options in the lunch menu, but there is still a variety of pasta, sandwiches and chef’s specials.
Like the salad menu, there are familiar Italian options in the lunch menu such as Chicken Parmesan and Pasta Carbonara. The Tuscan Chicken Panini and Cheeseburger Wrap are standouts on the sandwich menu while the chef’s specials include Goat Cheese Chicken Almond-Crusted Salmon.
The dinner service’s dishes appear more decadent and hearty. Some dinner-only options include Cracklin Encrusted Pork Chop, Stuffed Veal Chop and the Bella Ribeye Steak. To have access to a larger variety of options, my colleague and I visited Cafe Bella’s dinner service.
The pair of us entered Cafe Bella around 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 6. The interior of the restaurant was very warm, with dim, golden lighting and jewel-toned colors. Every wall was either covered in framed photos or a colorful mural. Quiet jazz music played overhead as my colleague and I were seated. We were the first to enter the restaurant for the dinner service and remained the only customers for around 15 minutes. The quiet ambience was pleasant and relaxing as we overlooked the menu.
If you are over 21, you may interest yourself in the wine tasting menu that our server offered us upon arrival. However, we came for the food. Upon asking our server, many of the dinner entrees are either quite large portions or decadent enough to leave behind leftovers. So, my colleague and I settled on splitting an appetizer and entree. Do keep in mind, however, that Cafe Bella adds a $3 upcharge for split entrees.
We chose the Bruschetta as our appetizer and the Ravello pasta as our entree, the latter of which happened to be our server’s favorite. While we waited for our food, we were given complimentary bread and a mix of oil, balsamic vinaigrette, and parmesan cheese to dip it in. The bread was light and airy which paired well with the savory, oil-based dip. My colleague and I inhaled both in mere minutes.
The dishes came out together after around 20 minutes. The bruschetta was served on slices of crispy ciabatta bread with seasoned slices of tomato, diced cooked prosciutto and balsamic vinaigrette. It was savory and fresh thanks to the tomato. I will warn that it must be eaten quickly to avoid the vinaigrette from softening the bread.
The Ravello was a linguine pasta topped with shrimp, crawfish, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach in a basil sherry cream sauce. The seafood was tender and well-seasoned. The sauce was surprisingly light with a strong herb taste. The ratio of pasta to topping was generous as well; we actually ran out of pasta before eating all of the toppings. I do wish that there were more sun-dried tomatoes but that may very well be my own bias.
Overall, Cafe Bella is a tasty, local luxury. For a University student I would not consider it an everyday spot, but the intimate, romantic setting and decadent food definitely makes it a good contender for your Valentine’s Day plans.
If you are interested in visiting Cafe Bella, they, per their website, are open Monday through Friday for lunch from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and dinner from 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. They are open Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. They are closed on Sundays.