Casa Bella Ristorante, New York, N.Y. (Manhattan)

After all my trips to New York over the years, I had never made it to Little Italy for dinner, so one evening, I dragged Ian there to find a nice Italian place to eat.  We walked up and down the main drag of Little Italy looking for a mutually acceptable place before deciding upon Casa Bella Ristorante.  Casa Bella seemed like a wonderful setting for a Godfather movie.  It's a large place, full of customers and bustling with waiters.  It was busy, but we were there late enough that we were able to be seated immediately.  Now,  some of the reviews I have read about Casa Bella were very critical of the service, but we had no reason to complain, and found our waiter and assistants to be quite accommodating.  

Ian started dinner with ravioli fritti, a piece of deep-fried ravioli with a large boat of marinara sauce for dipping.  I had a Caesar salad.  We also got a carafe of the house chianti to last us during the meal, and it wasn't bad for a house wine.

For my main course, I selected the veal saltimbocca, a nice veal dish presented on a bed of sauteed spinach with a lemon, butter, and parsley sauce.  The plate was decorated with cherry tomato halves and a couple of fried gnocchi.  The meat came hot and tender, and I found the overall dish to be quite simpatico.

For his meal, Ian started with the spaghetti bolognese on the menu, and from there, asked the waiter for a simple sauce without meat.  Well, "meat sauce" is the very definition of bolognese sauce, but the waiter didn't blink and tried to accommodate Ian's whims.  I guess that what he ended up getting was a spaghetti with marinara sauce and an ample grating of parmesan cheese, all garnished with fresh basil leaves.

We had to have dessert, too.  Ian got the Italian cheesecake and I got the tiramisu.  I actually thought the tiramisu was pretty good, and it was nice to have one made with actual mascarpone cheese for a change.

So, that was our Little Italy experience.  I thought it was kind of fun.