Radio Milano

We met up w/ D. for dinner last Saturday at Radio Milano. None of us had been there before. The dining room is nice - somewhat similar to sister restaurant Chelsea's Kitchen, although a bit "warmer" and more intimate. We arrived at 6:10pm and were seated immediately. By the time we left, the dining room was packed and there were many people waiting for tables. I thought the dining room was a bit noisy.

Here are two pics:

Our server brought out a basket of radio bread. I liked the bread - it seemed like a seasoned and flatter version of the sourdough crust on the pizzas at La Grande Orange (another sister restaurant).

We ordered the following:

• antipasti vegetable plate w/ burrata ($12)
• crisped acqua pazza white fish (halibut), sautéed spinach ($17)
• gino’s spicy shrimp pasta w/ toasted almond pesto ($15)
• tuscan wild mushroom meatloaf au jus ($15)
  

All drinks are 1/2 price from 5-7pm daily. Each of us had a drink.

The antipasto plate was good, although with the exception of the white nectarines, nothing really stood out for us. Too bad none of us are olive fans...we each ate one and left the rest. For reference, Pizzeria Bianco's antipasto plate is excellent.

I ordered the fish entree. Overall, the dish was good. The halibut fillet was nicely browned and seasoned, but slightly overcooked.

Patty had the pasta dish. I thought this was the best dish of the three. It was full of flavor - creamy, yet not heavy. The shrimp were slightly overcooked.

I had a few bites of D's meatloaf and thought it was pretty good. No pic.

For dessert, we shared the olive oil cake w/ housemade jam & thickened cream ($7). This dessert was just ok for me. The cake was very dense. It was like a slightly-better-than-average fruitcake. Here's a pic:

Radio Milano is a nice neighborhood restaurant. I don't think I would drive out of my way to eat here, although it would be a good place to meetup w/ friends...

The food is pretty solid and reasonably priced. I would put it on par with North and Chelsea's Kitchen.


Places mentioned:

Radio Milano
3950 E. Campbell
Phoenix, AZ 85018

Pizza A Metro

We met up w/ D. for dinner tonight at Pizza A Metro. I've been reading a bunch of great things about this place so I was dying to try it.

The restaurant is just to the east of I-17, on the north side of Thomas Rd. I had read a few comments that this place was hard to spot...and even though we were both looking for it, we drove right past it! (just look for the Circle K). As we were parking, we noticed a bunch of people waiting outside. We ended up waiting around 25 minutes for a table. The place is really tiny inside - only around 5 or 6 tables.

We ordered:

• Calamari Fritte (fried calamari - $7.95)
• Gnocchi w/ vodka sauce ($8.95)
• Saporita - tomato, cheese, sausage, broccoli (regular size - $13.95)
• Frescolina Fresh - tomato, cheese, prosciutto , and arugula (regular size - $14.95)
  

Sorry - didn't have my camera with me so no pictures...

Before our order arrived, the owner brought us a complimentary platter of flatbread and caponata. Both were fantastic - the onions were so sweet.

The calamari came next and was served with a marinara dipping sauce. The calamari was slightly overcooked, although it was still very good. The breading was nice.

Next up was the gnocchi. This was incredible! The texture of the homemade gnocchi was so smooth and the vodka sauce was really tasty.

The pizzas were both excellent. The crust was great, the sauce was full of flavor, and all of the toppings were of high quality. I would put PAM in the same artisinal category as LGO, Cibo, Pizzeria Bianco, and Settebello (in Salt Lake City). I'd say they definitely have some of the best pizza in the city. Really good stuff...

I really wanted to try the tiramisu, but we were all too stuffed to eat any more...so i'll have to try it next time!

The only complaint we had was that it was a bit warm inside.

Pizza A Metro rocks! We'll definitely be back!


Places mentioned:

Pizza A Metro
2336 W. Thomas Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85015

Dino's Greek and Italian Grill

Yesterday for dinner we went to Dino's Greek and Italian Grill. We also ate there the day after Christmas (also for dinner).

I'll start w/ last week's visit. We ordered hummus ($4.95) as an appetizer and lamb chops ($18.95) for our entree (to share).

The hummus was ok. Nothing special. Both of us didn't particularly like the pita bread served w/ the hummus. It seemed like the stuff you can buy at the grocery store - very airy (not like the thinner, chewy stuff that is served at most places). Here's a pic:

We both liked the lamb chops. They were very flavorful and cooked just right. The accompanying items (rice, tahini, veggies, and potatoes) were ok. The dish also came with a cup of soup. Our server was very nice and brought us each a cup of soup since she knew we were splitting the dish. Here's a pic:

On our visit yesterday, Patty ordered the Prawns Riviera ($16.95) and I had the Veal Scalloppine Marsala ($13.95).

Each entree came w/ choice of soup or salad. We ordered one of each. The salad was ok. I noticed that a few of the lettuce pieces were browning on the tips (not so fresh?). The soup was a lemon rice soup - Avdolemono. It was ok as well.

Here's the salad and soup:


My dish was ok. The veal was tender but the marsala sauce was very salty. The spaghetti was ok.

Patty's dish was also just ok. The flavors were good but the shrimp were overcooked. The accompanying items were ok.
Sorry for the extremely dark pictures...you can at least get an idea of what the food looks like.

Hm...lots of "ok's" mentioned...

Service was good on both visits. However, our opinion of the food definitely declined after our second visit.

The restaurant was busy on both on our visits. I think this is due to its location. There are no other Greek restaurants in the far West Valley. This part of town is loaded w/ chain restaurants and there aren't that many family owned restaurants. Actually, in the immediate vicinity, there are only a few dining options. I don't think they would do as well if there were in another part of town (w/ more dining options). Overall, I think it's pretty average. It's comparable to what you would get in a typical chain restaurant. That being said however, I would still pick Dino's any day over most chains. We'll probably be back sometime in the future.


Places mentioned:
Dino's Greek and Italian Grill
14960 W. Indian School Rd.
Goodyear, AZ 85338

Andreoli and Mercato del Gelato

Yesterday we finally tried Andreoli Italian Grocer. It's a market/deli that also has food available for taking out or eating there. They opened a few months ago and I've been reading really good things about the place.

We shared the panino di caio (panino with thinly sliced ribeye steak, fontina cheese and onions) and an order of tiramisu.

All of their specials sounded really good as well. I can't remember the exact details, but there were some pretty unique items: rabbit, venison, baby bass...

The panino was fantastic. The beef was extremely tender and full of flavor. The bread (made on-site) had a nice and crispy crust. The accompanying side salad was just ok - romaine lettuce tossed w/ oil and pepper.

The tiramisu was great - one of the best we've ever had. It was pretty light and had a great coffee flavor. I also liked that the alcohol flavor wasn't too strong and overpowering.

It's too bad that we live so far from Andreoli, otherwise we'd be regulars there.

On our way back home, we stopped by Tempe Marketplace to walk around. It's very similar to Desert Ridge in North Phoenix - an open-air mall with a bunch of big box retailers surrounding it. The stores in the mall itself all seem to be targeted towards the teen crowd (Wet Seal, Gap, Aeropostale....). There is nothing exciting in terms of the dining options, except for Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que, which I want to try. The big box retailers - yet another Ross, Michael's, Old Navy, etc. The same thing you can find all over the city. Yawn.

We walked by a gelato shop called Mercato del Gelato and decided to give it a try. We first tried a sample of their hazelnut gelato. It had a powdery texture and weak hazelnut flavor. Pass. Next we sampled the pineapple sorbet. It had a strange and artificial flavor. Pass. Not wanting to just walk out, we got a small dish of the lemon sorbet (how bad can lemon sorbet be?). We should have passed on this as well. Similar to the pineapple sorbet, the lemon sorbet tasted strange and artificial. We ended up eating a few bites and tossing it. I'm guessing they are using a bunch of pre-made bases and mixes. Yuck. I definitely recommend passing on Mercato del Gelato and heading to Arlecchino Gelateria for some real gelato.