Restaurant dinner

Last night we enjoyed a dinner out in a restaurant with our usual Sunday night dinner friends, G & W. They had a coupon for Buca di Beppo. We arrived before 6 PM but the place was already hopping. Who knew we could make a reservation? W told the hostess that I had to eat right away, we couldn't wait for a half hour to get a table, and they seated us at the only booth in the bar.

So we were quite private and didn't have screaming children around. This chain serves everything family style -- large portions in a single bowl -- and we made some good choices. For the three who love seafood, they ordered pasta frutti di mare (shrimp, baby clams, mussels and calamari tossed with spicy red clam sauce and served over imported Italian linguine). They ordered a caesar salad as well (I ate the croutons).


I enjoyed chianti braised short ribs and some fettuccine with marinara sauce. And I shared with everyone else.

I wanted a glass of wine but restrained myself. The bartender brought me some soda from the fountain with lime sweet/sour mix. It was good but not sweet enough for me. I am still really into sweet and cold tastes.

To conclude our festive meal, we each enjoyed a small cone of house-made gelato (chocolate and pistachio).

It was the perfect conclusion to a day full of outings!