Last year La Cantina was my favorite Italian restaurant in Middletown. I thought it was delicious and authentic. After spending this past summer in Italy taking a class about Italian food culture, I wondered what I would now think of the food at La Cantina. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still thoroughly enjoyed my two meals at the venue, which remains one of my favorite Middletown restaurants. I still wonder why Wesleyan students do not venture down Court St., past the sketchy strip club Valentinos, to indulge in the magnificent food wonders awaiting them at La Cantina. Excellent food is served in extremely large quantities for reasonable prices, making this a special restaurant that is often overlooked.
La Cantina is located in the basement of a small, unassuming building. Walking down the stairs you enter a world of friendly service and Italian atmosphere complete with plants and paintings on the walls, many of which contain photographs of Italian families. The restaurant gradually became alive with vivacious clientele and enticing smells. My guest and I understood why one would make a reservation at this quaint restaurant.
The menu is divided into pasta, chicken and veal. I highly recommend the pasta dishes; all of the dishes I sampled were uniquely delicious. The tasty pastas come in huge bowls, enough for two meals at the very least. Priced at $10.99 and up, the large portions and excellent quality make the pasta dishes more than worth it to splurge. Although I do not usually love cream sauces, I found them to be the best choices.
As we awaited our entrees, the waitress brought crusty rolls, with a hot, airy inside. Salads topped with a delicious and sweet balsamic vinaigrette dressing came with each of the entrees.
On my first visit, we ordered three pastas for four people, and each of us still had leftovers for another full meal. Chicken broth filled the air as the Gimella Cantina arrived. In this dish, twisty pasta is topped with sautéed chicken and spinach, all swimming in a garlicky chicken broth. The Gimella was perfectly al dente– a rare occurrence in America. The simple flavors were soothing and seemed to hit the spot the way chicken soup does. Penne Arrabiata was a favorite pasta of mine in Italy, and La Cantina’s was good, but not quite as powerful as in Italy. Sweet parmesan cheese balanced out the spicy, red sauce flavored with hot pepper.
My favorite pasta from that evening was rigatoni with a pink-crab sauce. Another diner proclaimed the sauce “incredible”– a perfect word to describe the melting effect of the sweet and creamy pink sauce filled with salty crabmeat, thoroughly coating every crevice of the rigatoni. I sampled two other pasta dishes, which came in sizes that I thought defied the laws of human consumption.
It occurred to me that La Cantina was true a culinary adventure when I went with a large party and was informed that, for this many people, we would have to dine “family style” in the back room. None of us knew what we were getting into as we were told to order two pastas and two meats for the table to share. In Italy pasta is a first course and meat is a second course. One significant difference, though, is that, in Italy, smaller portion sizes are expected. Italians would never serve the immense portions that we were served that evening. It was truly incredible.
First, rolls and salad were brought out for the table. Then our two pastas arrived in the largest pasta bowls I have ever seen, two ships filled with pasta as their cargo. After we had all consumed more than our share of pasta, only a minor dent appeared in the bowls. An onlooker might have guessed that we had not yet eaten. Even with the vast quantity, the two pastas were delicious.
The Fusilli Cantina was amazing. Fusilli spirals were covered in a sweet pesto cream sauce that coated each bite with rich smoothness. A hint of garlic from the pesto balanced the sweet cream, creating an enticing effect. My fellow diners concurred that this was the better of the two pastas. Fusilli Puttanesca was good, though the pasta was a little soft and the sauce was “two acidic,” to quote one diner. Capers and olives contributed to the saltiness that made this pasta appealing, but the whole effect was not as satisfying as the pesto cream sauce.
After eating a meal of pasta, our main dishes arrived on gargantuan platters, covering the table with Chicken Parmesan and Veal Rollatini. It looked like an “obscene” amount of food, to quote a fellow diner. The Veal, which was breaded, fried and then stuffed with vegetables, cheese and prosciutto, was perfectly tender. It was rolled up and served in a flavorful wine sauce with sautéed mushrooms, creating a delicious effect. The Chicken Parmesan was tasty, and consisted of large, breaded chicken cutlets fried and then topped with a rich tomato sauce and a layer of cheese. Though I liked the Veal Rollatini more, the chicken parmesan made for better leftovers once it was reheated.
The large portions at La Cantina are not really of the Italian way; they are the American spin on Italian food. Despite discrepancy in quantity, the food’s quality and authenticity is like nowhere else in Middletown. Be forewarned of the amount of food served if you plan on dining “family style.” Even after sampling divine food in Italy, I thoroughly enjoyed my meals at La Cantina.
La Cantina Cafe Restorante
74 Court St., Middletown
Price Range: $10.95 – $17.95 (per Entree)
Favorite Dish: Fusili Cantina
Least Favorite Dish: None.
4 cardinals
Rating system –
4 cardinals – really excellent, for Middletown standards, that is
3 cardinals – worth the trip of campus
2 cardinals – okay for a change of pace, but do not expect too much
1 cardinal – do not even try it!!
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