Hey! Ba da boom ... Ba da bing!

I used to think that italian food was just pasta and red or cream sauce. And that East Side Mario's or Olive Garden was authentic Italian cuisine.

Which was why Italian restaurants were never on my short list, or any list.
I usually felt bloated and uncomfortable after a meal. Taste was a different story. i.e. They suck. I'd rather get a happy meal at McD's.

So on our 1 night/year out. Tresa an I went to La Bruschetta. We had booked a table just to be on the safe side. Good thing we did too, because there were no empty tables.

We ended up waiting about 45 mins - 1hr for our table. And so they set us up at the bar.
Lucky us. Really. We sat near Benito the original owner of the restaurant (his daughter Sylvia owns and runs it now, but he's always there anyways) .

We got a complimentary glass of wine, bruschetta and we got to chit chat with everyone. And we also got to see dessert ahead of time.

This place wasn't anything special. In the front vestibule there's plates everywhere.
Read them.
' signed Bette Midler'
' signed Steve Sheilds #31'
' signed Margaret Atwood'
' signed can't make out the name'


If you want really good EYE-talian food. This is the place to go.
If you just want to pay high prices and look impressive, or be a snob for the evening, and eat a piece of art on a huge white plate, then go to chinatown cuz you're still hungry. Then this isn't it, go somewhere else Benito will tell you. And he will.

So this is Benito. No relation to my dad. He's long gone.
Benito doesn't smile for photos, but he's actually a chatter box and nothing like the photo.
They don't need a band, Benito's the entertainment. He'll tell you plenty of stories. Sometimes I couldn't understand what he was saying, but I laughed my best imitation 'pharma-rep laugh when a doctor said a joke laugh'.

But mine was sincere. This gino made you feel like you walked into his home for dinner.

I had wanted to order veal carpaccio, but there was no more veal. My next choice was mussels. But they were done too. So I got some salad. When he came around to see how we were he looked at me and asked why I was eating salad. I told him and he seemed genuinely upset. The next thing I knew. Sylvia said she was getting me some octopus carpaccio to try. He also brought out some bread that he'd made that day. I was getting stuffed.

I couldn't believe it. They were treating us like we were celebs. And plenty of celebs seek out Benito's restaurant - just stand by the front door.
Only difference between us and a celeb was that we were deeply grateful for the exceptional hospitality and willing to reward generosity with generosity.
And the food was amazing and the portions are just right.
Definitely a place to re-visit.
More restaurants should strive to be like Benito's.