Four Cheese Ravioli @ Maggiano’s Little Italy
Lately Maggiano’s has been my new hang out. Possibly because I was given a hefty little gift card to the joint, or maybe just because it’s a cool place to be, who knows? On my visits I usually get something to eat and (since I love the Italian food) it works out quite nicely. Usually I’m quite skeptical of the chain-style Italian restaurant, (Olive Garden and Johnny Carino’s to name a few), but Maggiano’s falls in the mid-level acceptable group along with Macaroni Grill and Buca di Beppo.
Anyway, on this day I decided to try the Ravioli with a pesto cream sauce and a touch of marinara—it ended up being the best decision I made all day. Being half Italian, I’ve learned a couple secrets about Italian cooking. 40% of it is the quality of sauce. If you can make a killer sauce, you’re almost halfway to making delicious Italian food. Another 40% is the quality of cheeses and anyone can go down to the deli and spend some money on quality cheese. So with just the sauce and cheese you’ve got 80% of perfection, leaving 20% for everything else. If you can get the sauces and the cheese right, I’ll eat your food and so will lots of other people. Well, Maggiano’s delivered on both accounts: the sauce was a rich but not overpowering alfredo mixed with a bit of pesto. Delightful. There was also a marinara sauce that was lightly added down the center of the dish; it’s slightly tangy taste was a nice contrast to the pesto-cream. The dish was topped with a grated blend of cheeses that were toasted to a beautiful brown crispy goodness in the oven before serving.
This was definitely one of the better Ravioli dishes I have tried and I can’t recommend it enough. Make sure to order some garlic bread too, so you can sop up all that excess sauce. It would be a crime to waste.
Price: $9 (lunch portion)
Locations Nationwide
the lasagna there is also a plus!
I’ll have to try it, but I think my gift card is out of dollars.
[...] Originally by brian from the little dish on March 26, 2008, 3:06am « even our insects are bigger here, and there’s a reason for that « [...]
i love Italian Food specially those juicy pastas. They are really delicious.:-`
i always love italian food, they are really tasty like indian foods..“