Cannellini Restaurant, Playa del Rey, California

Ian had an urge for Italian so we visited Cannellini. Cannellini is a traditional American-Northern-Italian restaurant not far from Aaron and Stephanie’s apartment in Playa del Rey. Traditional red sauce and mozzarella cheese abound in this Americanized version of Italian food. Upon surveying the menu I saw the usual offerings of lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, fettuccini alfredo, eggplant parmesan, and baked ziti. I ordered the veal marsala which came with a side of fettuccini alfredo and house salad. Ian and Stephanie ordered one of the evening’s specials, chicken tortellini in a tomato cream sauce tossed with fresh peas and mushrooms. Aaron ordered traditional lasagna.

The service here was not exactly top notch. The caprese salad Ian ordered never arrived and there was no mention of it by our server. The drinks were not refilled promptly, we had to ask for the bill three times and even after we finally received it we were then presented the dessert menu. This along with long a wait between salads and entrees resulted in our server only earning ten a percent tip, not something I am in the habit of doing.

The food was adequate as far as I am concerned. My dining companions seemed pleased with their meals and I am glad. My veal was under seasoned and over sauced. The key to good veal marsala is getting the veal crisp in the pan the removing it to deglaze with the marsala and make your sauce. I think that they simply left the veal in the pan as they made the pan gravy or even worse the sauce was made separately and added to the pan. Whatever the case the veal was soggy, over sauced, and under seasoned. One of the first things I try to teach students is the importance of salt and pepper. Not everything is supposed to taste like a pretzel but salt and pepper work to heighten all the other flavors of the dish. Without the proper amount of these often a dish will fall flat or simply have one note. The pasta served with my entrée was good but also under seasoned. The pasta was cooked to a beautiful al dente but the sauce lacked the proper amount of salt and pepper and that hint of nutmeg that makes alfredo well rounded. The real star here was the salad. The house salad was full of vegetables, garbanzo beans, and tender greens all tossed in a garlicky dressing reminiscent of Dominic’s and served with what Aaron dubbed the “salad doughnut.” This is essentially a deep fried roll basted in garlic butter. Amazing!

All in all we had a good time, we laughed we ate, we enjoyed each other’s company so the meal was not a complete disaster. Sometimes the meal becomes secondary to the experience as a whole. I enjoyed myself despite the food and service being a little lack-luster. Five and a half out of ten.