Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Isabella's Italian Trattoria
Larry Bly
Larry Bly runs an ad agency and does freelance writing in the Roanoke area.
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The next time you're in Lynchburg, you should try Isabella's Italian Trattoria located in a shopping
center just off Old Forest Road.
It's an intimate restaurant with small dining areas to the front, and a larger dining room just past
the bar in the rear. I've been there several times, but each time I am reminded of how much I enjoy the
place.
The service is warm and friendly. My young waitress had a great sense of humor, and even knew the
capitol of North Dakota (that got her extra points and a few more dollars tip).
Meals begin with a traditional basket of fresh breads and olive oil for dipping. I always load my oil
with salt and fresh-ground pepper. The endless supply of bread could be a meal by itself -- don't go
this route as the best is yet to come.
Isabella's has a brick oven out front, so you can enjoy watching the cooks slide beautiful pizzas and
other items into the glowing mouth. They even roast oysters in a dish called "Italian roasted oysters,"
which features creamy spinach, pancetta and crumbs of garlic bread.
Antipasti include the aforementioned oysters, mussels, Portobello mushrooms (packed with sun-dried
tomatoes, garlic and fontina and goat cheese), calamari fritti, brochette and prosciutto-wrapped
scallops. I could make a meal just from the delicious appetizers. But, of course, I never stop there.
Le Zuppe (soups) include a creamy lobster bisque, or an Tuscan white bean (I had this) that includes
fresh tomatoes, apple wood smoked bacon and a touch of garlic. I was hoping for a fagioli, but it
wasn't on the menu. Luckily, I was not disappointed.
Isabella's tries to present some not-so-common menu items, including such salads as: house (featuring
shaved Reggioano and pine nuts); hearts of Romaine (hope you like anchovies), a dried-fig salad ( with
baby greens, spiced-candied walnuts, gorgonzola and tart apple dressing) and oven-roasted sweet-potato
salad (featuring mesclun greens, olive oil, pancetta bits, toasted pumpkins seeds and freshly grated
asiago flurries). I don't know what an asiago flurry is, but it sounds delicious!
The menu is somewhat long, so I'll only touch on a few things that I've tried or would like to try. As one might imagine, there are pizzas galore: thin-crust and brick oven-baked pizzas that come in varieties of four cheese, Yukon potato, spicy Italian sausage, artichoke and grilled chicken. The old brick oven was really getting a workout when I visited for lunch.
La Pastasciutta (tossed pastas) involve some Old World treats like pasta bolognese tossed with rich
Tuscan meat sauce of beef, veal and red wine or butternut squash, goat cheese and sage stuffed
cannelloni.
I've tried a few of the Isabella's house plates: chicken parmesan was a favorite as was the parmesan -crusted grouper. Other offerings that sound tasty include walnut-crusted salmon, veal scallops with lemon and artichokes, and grilled Ahi tuna with chardonnay butter sauce and sautéed vegetable-of-the-day.
I recently enjoyed the chicken panini with fresh fruit, done with meat marinated in olive oil,
garlic and herbs, and grilled with prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. It's a winner, and bursts with
flavor. The Capri is a nice blend of salami, pepperoni, pancetta and fresh mozzarella served on
sliced Italian bread.
Adventurous non-meat eaters might enjoy the black and white panini. This item is made with fresh buffalo mozzarella and nicoise-olive tapenade.
The quality of breads are especially excellent here. It has been my experience that paninis take a hearty bread to hold up under the toasting process. They can often become dry and crumbling -- not so with Isabella's version. (You may wish to keep this tip in mind, should someone give you a panini-maker for Christmas. Make sure to use Italian or other hearty breads, and not white bread.)
There are also Italian coffees and nice desserts on the lineup. These include cheesecakes, tarts, bread pudding, cannoli, tiramisu and even something called a Bananas Foster wrap, which is explained as follows: caramelized bananas in a crispy shell with vanilla ice cream and caramel-rum espresso sauce.
I have yet to make it to desserts at Isabella's so I can only urge you to give them a try. I have
had no disappointments at this restaurant to date.
By the way, it's nice to see an Italian menu without "Chicken Mafia," a much overdone, Americanized
dish found in around the Roanoke Valley.
Isabella's features great Italian food with little pretensions or fanfare. They serve up good food quietly and deliciously.
ISABELLA'S
3225 Old Forest Road
434-385-1660
