Right Wing Nation

I’ve been wanting to try La Bella Trattoria in Bellefonte for some time, so we went yesterday evening. It turned out that it was prom weekend, and the Talleyrand Park was full of attendees in tuxes and formals. We parked and walked up the street past J&E Guns (right across from the courthouse, so you can go get your CHL, then pick up a pistol or two, all without walking more than fifty feet), and up to the restaurant a half-block up the street.

I’m not sure what it is, but Bellefontians seem to like little cavern-esque restaurants, very dark, with little cubbyhole booths. That German restaurant (the Bush House burned down) was like that; so is La Bella Trattoria, though even more so. Each booth has curtains that can be pulled to close you off completely from the rest of the restaurant.

By the way, their doorbell is broken. We stood for about five minutes until somebody noticed and seated us.

They have no liquor license–and from what I could tell, serve no beverages other than water. That’s fine with me; I usually drink only water. But it’s odd, liquor license or not, to offer no (non-alcoholic) beverages at all. Other than the doorbell glitch, and they didn’t realize it wasn’t working, service was very good.

I ordered the daily special appetizer, crèpes filled with ricotta and herbs, and topped with a tomato-cream sauce. They were very good, though a bit heavy for appetizers (add two more, and you could make a whole meal out of them). For the entrée, I ordered the veal saltimbocca, which was served with spaghetti and “red sauce,” and “vegetables” (the quotation marks are there because, well, I didn’t know what either red sauce or vegetables meant).

The saltimbocca, a veal cutlet with a slice of prosciutto and fontina on top, then run under the broiler to melt the fontina, was very good, though salty–and if I, who like my food saltier than most, think it’s salty, then that means it’s really salty. There’s a slice of prosciutto. One needn’t add additional salt. But salty or not, it was enjoyable.

The “red sauce” was a bit boring–basically tomato and nothing else–but it was a side, and the grated cheese helped it along. The vegetables turned out to be slices of winter vegetables roasted in olive oil, quite good. Had I not ordered those rich crèpes, I would probably have finished my meal.

Oh but wait. She brought the dessert tray, which was a bit sad looking for so early in the evening. I have a weakness. I cannot resist carrot cake, no matter how full I am. And carrot cake was on the tray.

When it came, there was what seemed to be a rosette of whipped cream. I spread it over the cake, and at the time thought it was a rather odd consistency for whipped cream, then took a bite. Not only was the cake marvelous, but the rosette turned out to be sweetened mascarpone! That took rich to a whole new level, and despite the fact that with each bite I was closer to exploding, I nearly finished the whole thing.

Nice meal, nice ambiance, good service, and not to pricey. We’ll go back.