Kenny's East Coast Pizza

Pizza joints are a dime a dozen in the DFW area, but good pizza joints are rare gems in the Metroplex.  Highly acclaimed chef, Kenny Bowers, has many successful restaurants in DFW and recently through his hat in the ring to mix it up with the heavyweight pizzerias.  Kenny's East Coast Pizza recently opened in Plano and I had the opportunity to eat there with some family members recently.

Prosciutto Wrapped Fried Mozzarella

For our appetizer, we started with the Prosciutto Wrapped Fried Mozzarella.  Although I have had this menu item at his Italian concept, Kenny's Italian Kitchen, I felt compelled to order it here because I liked it so much on my last visit to said restaurant.  Others at our table were pleased with the taste and I felt it was a great start to our meal.

Pepperoni Pizza

We also ordered two pizzas, a pepperoni and a ham.  The pepperoni was one of the best pepperoni pizzas I have had in the state of Texas and I loved the sauce, the crust, and the abundance of cheese.  The ham was delicious as well, but played second fiddle to the pepperoni.

Ham Pizza

My daughters ordered from the kids menu, because neither of them wanted pizza on this visit.  My oldest had the chicken strips with chips and my youngest had the kid's spaghetti with a meatball.  My oldest liked her chicken strips, but my youngest chowed down on a larger than expected portion of the spaghetti.  I tried some of it myself and it was very good spaghetti.

Chicken Strips

Kids Spaghetti

I must say that I was quite pleased with Kenny's East Coast Pizza and can't wait to go again.  The service could have been a little better, but that is somewhat expected from a new restaurant.  It wasn't bad service, but they did forget a drink we ordered and could have checked on us a little more.  I have dined at several New York and East coast pizza restaurants while on vacation and I would put Kenny's East Coast Pizza up against any of them.

Kenny's East Coast Pizza
http://kennyseastcoastpizza.com
Livin the Good Life Rating = 4
 

Zizzi

In case you didn't know, it rains a lot in Scotland.  One evening my wife and I were walking around Edinburgh and taking in the sights, when it began to rain on us.  My wife was on the verge of a "hangry" attack, so we decided to grab a bite to eat and get out of the rain.  The first place that we came across was Zizzi, which is an Italian restaurant chain in the United Kingdom.

Garlic Bread with Mozzarella

We had walked close to twelve miles that day exploring Edinburgh, so we were both starving.  We started with the Garlic Bread with Mozzarella.  The bread had caramelized balsamic onions on it, which gave it some additional flavor, but this dish really hit the spot and was quickly gobbled up.

Prosciutto Verde Rustica Pizza

For our main course we decided to split a pizza.  We chose their seasonal special, which was the Prosciutto Verde Rustica Pizza. This pizza was a white pizza with mozzarella, ham, balsamic tomatoes, garlic cloves, spinach, and prosciutto.  I am usually not a big fan of white pizzas, but this one was terrific.  We both agreed that it was one of the better pizzas we have had in 2016.

Tiramisu

For dessert, we split the Tiramisu, which might have been the best item we ate at Zizzi.  It was certainly top notch and amongst the best pieces of Tiramisu that I have ever had.  While the food was really good, the service was a little disappointing.  They seemed to be under-staffed and we had to wait quite a while between visits from our waitress, which left us without drinks frequently.  Although she didn't check in on us regularly, our waitress was friendly and helpful with the menu.  Overall, we thought the restaurant was very good, especially considering the fact we had done zero research or even heard about it prior to this visit.

Zizzi
https://www.zizzi.co.uk/
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Rotolo's Pizzeria

My brother and I have recently started playing tennis again for the first time in over a decade.  After intense competitions between two players that are considerably past our primes, we generally go out for a bite to eat afterwards.  Following another victory by yours truly, my brother took me to one of his favorite pizza restaurants, Rotolo's.

Garlic Parmesan Bites

This was my first time dining at this pizza joint and we ordered the Garlic Parmesan Bites for an appetizer.  These baked tiny pieces of bread were delicious and reminded me of miniature garlic knots.  The marinara dipping sauce was good, but could have been served a little warmer.

Italian Club Pizza

We also ordered two pizzas, the Italian Club and a Pepperoni-Hamburger pizza.  The crust was actually quite good and they had plenty of cheese and toppings.  I particularly liked the Italian Club, which had pepperoni, salami, Canadian bacon, and bacon.  There was not a single bite that didn't have multiple pieces of meat on it.

Pepperoni and Hamburger

My brother had been talking about this place for a while and I thought it was worthy of his praise.  I wouldn't put it in my DFW Top 5, but it was good nonetheless.  This place also has a patio area and would be a nice place to enjoy a pizza and a beverage if the weather is nice.

Rotolo's Pizzeria
http://rotolos.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Goodfella's

One cold Saturday, my youngest daughter and I were hanging out, while my wife and oldest daughter were attending a birthday party. As lunchtime approached, I began to get hungry and called my brother and sister-in-law to see if they wanted to meet us for lunch.  They agreed to meet and we decided to eat at Goodfella's Wood Fired Pizza because it was halfway between our homes.

Homemade Mozzarella Carrozza

While we looked over the menu, we decided to get an appetizer and chose to get the Homemade Mozzarella Carrozza, which was mozzarella between two slices of bread and lightly fried.  This appetizer seemed to be the lovechild of a cheese stick and a grilled cheese sandwich.  I thought it was delicious and so did everyone in my group that tried it .

Chicken Parmigiana Pizza

For the main meal, we ordered a couple of pizzas that included the Chicken Parmigiana Pizza and a pizza with hamburger and pepperoni.  The Chicken Parmigiana Pizza was a first for me, as I had never had breaded chicken on a pizza before.  Although I liked the pizza crust, the chicken and the rest of the pizza proved to be very bland.  The hamburger and pepperoni pizza was also disappointing and somewhat soggy.  The only positive was that it had plenty of meat on it.  

Pepperoni and Hamburger Pizza

The appetizer proved to be the highlight of this visit and the pizzas were a disappointment.  They weren't bad, but they certainly weren't what I would call great either.  The service was average at best and this is not a place where I plan to dine again.  

Goodfella's Wood Fired Pizza-Pasta-Bar
http://www.santinosgoodfellas.com/#about
Livin the Good Life Rating=2

Maggiano's Little Italy

My two daughters have recently started liking pizza and pasta.  This was a major event in my family, because my wife and I love Italian food and we can now have family meals at some of our favorite Italian restaurants.  Maggiano's Little Italy (Plano location) happens to be our favorite Italian eatery in Collin County, so one night we decided to take the girls there for Sunday dinner.

Mozzarella Marinara

We arrived hungry and immediately ordered an appetizer.  Although they have several appetizers that we like (the steamed mussels are a favorite), we decided to order the Mozzarella Marinara on this night.  Having never ordered this dish before, we really didn't know what to expect.  Rather than the typical cheese sticks you see at most Italian joints, this dish is large square pieces of mozzarella that are fried and served over their very flavorful marinara.  We enjoyed this appetizer and I would certainly order it again.

Chicken Picatta

Deciding what entree item to get is always a chore, because they have a long list of entrees to choose from.  On this visit, I ordered the Chicken Picatta and was pleased that I did.  The chicken was great and I loved the added flavor of the capers and the lemon butter sauce.  It was served with spaghetti aglio olio and I felt it was the perfect compliment to the chicken.  

Baked Eggplant Parmesan

My wife had the Baked Eggplant Parmesan and it was very good as well, but I certainly preferred my dish to hers.  Since this was one of the "On The House Classic Pastas", she also got to choose one of the other classics to take home and she chose the Baked Ziti.  We ate it later in the week and typical of Maggiano's dishes, it was big enough to feed two of us.  My kids were also pleased with their kid's menu meals of Spaghetti with Meatball and Cheese Pizza. 

We couldn't leave without dessert, so the four of us shared a piece of the Chocolate Zuccotto Cake and it was huge, very rich, and devoured to the last bite.  The service was once again impeccable and I don't ever recall having bad service at any of the Maggiano's locations.  If you haven't already visited Maggiano's, this place can be a great place for a date, dinner with friends, or even dinner with two rowdy little girls.  I am so glad my daughters will eat Italian cuisine now, because that allows us to more frequently visit some of our favorite places, including Maggiano's.

Chocolate Zuccotto Cake

Maggiano's Little Italy
http://www.maggianos.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=3

Kenny's Italian Kitchen

Every once and a while I get a serious craving for a specific cuisine and I had recently been craving some Italian food.  Although I have a couple of DFW Italian restaurants that I really like, I was in the mood to try a place where I have never dined before.  After some discussion and reading some reviews, my wife and I decided to try out Kenny's Italian Kitchen.

The restaurant had several appetizers that seemed promising, but we finally decided on the Prosciutto Wrapped Fried Mozzarella that was served with a pair of sauces.  The addition of prosciutto was and interesting twist to the normal cheese stick routine.  My wife and I enjoyed this appetizer, but both of us preferred the red sauce over the Marsala wine sauce.

Prosciutto Wrapped Fried Mozzarella

I ordered the Chicken Parmigiana for my entree and I couldn't have been happier with my choice.  The chicken was cooked to perfection and had just the right amount of mozzarella and red sauce.  The spaghetti was very basic with olive oil and garlic, but it was a nice compliment to the chicken parmigiana.  I eat this entree a lot when dining at Italian restaurants and it was one of the better ones I have tried in the last couple of years.

Chicken Parmigiana

My wife ordered the Lasagne and was nice enough to let me have a generous portion of her entree of this very tasty dish.  The lasagne had plenty of ground beef and cheese, which is often lacking in lasagne I have had lately.  The portion was huge and we actually took about half home, despite the fact that I helped her eat a sizable portion myself.

Lasagne

We ended our meal with a piece of tiramisu for dessert and it was every bit as good as the other items we tried on this night.  I have to say that I was very impressed with Kenny's Italian Kitchen.  The food was good, yet inexpensive, and the service was impressive as well.  In the past, I have been critical of other restaurants ran by Kenny Bowers, but Kenny's Italian Kitchen gets a big thumbs up from me.  

Tiramisu

Kenny's Italian Kitchen
http://kennysitalian.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=4

Italic

Seared Calamari

On the second night of my conference in Austin, my father-in-law invited me to dine with him.  He lives in Austin part-time and recommended that we dine at a new Italian restaurant that he really liked.  The restaurant, Italic, was only five blocks from my hotel, so we met for an early dinner in downtown  Austin.

Tuscan White Bean Soup

The first item we tried was the Seared Calamari, which was garnished with minced olives, blood oranges, mint, escarole, and almonds.  While I am used to fried calamari, this was my first time to try it seared and I was very impressed by the flavor.  I also had a bowl of the Tuscan White Bean Soup.  This soup was very rich, but the white beans, kale, Italian sausage, red chili flakes, and parmigiano combined to make a fantastic soup.  

Soppressata Pizaa

For our main course, we decided to split a Soppressata Pizza and the Niman Ranch Two-Bone Tomahawk Pork Chop.  The pizza was topped with a spicy soppressata, fontina, honey, red chili flakes, and basil.  Although it was a very good pizza, it was my least favorite menu item that I tried.  The pork chop was tender and juicy.  It was also topped with a chile agrodolce sauce, which was actually very sweet and was a perfect compliment to the pork.

Niman Ranch Two-Bone Tomahawk Pork Chop

As you can probably tell by now, I was very impressed with this restaurnt.  The food and the service were both terrific.  While the calamari was probably my favorite menu item I had on this night, I really did like everything that I tried.  A table next to us had two desserts that looked appetizing, but I was too full to eat another bite.  I will make it a point to try a dessert on my next visit. 

Italic
http://italicaustin.com
Livin the Good Life Rating=4

Scarpetta

On our first night in Vegas, my wife said that she was in the mood for Italian.  Before going on my trip, I had researched various Italian restaurants and Scarpetta seemed to be getting a lot of buzz from bloggers and diners alike.  Scarpetta is Scott Conant's (celebrity chef and Chopped judge) flagship restaurant and we were quite anxious to try this upscale Italian restaurant at The Cosmopolitan.

From our table, we had a cool view of the Bellagio fountains

Bread Basket

We were lucky enough to get a table with a view of the Bellagio fountains.  The beautiful view was one of the best I have ever had while dining in Vegas.  Our waiter also brought out a bread basket that included an excellent variety of breads with some flavorful spreads.  For our first dish we started with the Braised Short Ribs, which sat atop a mixture of farro risotto and diced vegetables.  This flavor of the dish was outstanding and raised our expectations for the restaurant even more.  Without question, this was the best dish I have had so far in 2015. 

Braised Short Ribs

For our entrees, we ordered the highly praised Spaghetti and the Fennel Dusted Black Cod.  The spaghetti was very simple, but the noodles had a perfect texture and the sauce was divine.  The cod dish sat atop concentrated tomatoes and roasted fennel.  While the cod was very good, the roasted fennel might have been my favorite part of the dish.

Spaghetti

Fennel Dusted Black Cod

Since everything we had sampled so far was very good, we couldn't leave without sampling a dessert.  We ordered the Amedei Chocolate Cake that came with toasted almond gelato and salted caramel sauce.  This dessert was the perfect ending to a perfect meal.  The flavors of chocolate, almond, and caramel blended perfectly into an amazing dessert.

Amedei Chocolate Cake with toasted almond gelato and salted caramel sauce

In addition to the excellent food, the service was outstanding.  While enjoying our meal, we were able to see the Bellagio fountains fountains erupt twice.  This meal was certainly worth the short walk from The Palazzo to The Cosmopolitan and I will definitely add this restaurant to my list of Vegas favorites.  

Scarpetta
http://www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com/taste/restaurant-collection/scarpetta.aspx
Livin the Good Life Rating=5

Coal Vines

I was recently in Austin for a conference, so I had a whole list of restaurants that I wanted to try to visit while I was there.  A group of us tried to go to one of the restaurants on my list, but it was an hour wait to get a table and we decided just to go dine at an Italian restaurant that we had previously passed.  We had walked past a restaurant called Coal Vines that looked like a fun place to dine, so we decided to go eat there since it was close by and was not crowded.

Caesar Salad 

Cheese Sticks

The sign on the door said it was a pizza, pasta, and wine bistro, so we thought it would be a good place to dine because it offered some variety.  In addition to their regular menu, they also had some specials on this night that included Italian inspired seafood.  I started with a Caesar salad and we ordered some cheese sticks for the table.  The romaine lettuce on my salad was fresh and crispy,  but I was not particularly impressed with the flavor of the Caesar dressing.  The cheese sticks had what tasted like pesto mixed in with the cheese, which gave them a unique flavor that went well with the fried batter and marinara sauce.

Small Pizza with Prosciutto and Basil

For my main course, I ordered a small pizza with prosciutto and basil.  I was a little disappointed that the pizza did not have much prosciutto on it because I had anticipated it being covered in the tasty Italian dry-cured ham.  The pizza was much larger than I had expected, but I made a valiant effort to finish the whole pie.  Other members of my party got the chicken parmesan, the spicy Italian sandwich, and the cod piccata.  

Clockwise from top left-Chicken Parmesan, Spicy Italian Sandwich, and Cod Piccata.

Although we were all too full for dessert, none of us were particularly impressed with the food.  The service was good and the dining area was comfortable, but nobody in my party ate anything that was noteworthy.  I don't know if I would go out of my way to eat here again, but I would give it another shot if I was in the area and looking for a place where I didn't have to wait to be seated.  Coal Vines has a nice outdoor dining area next to the sidewalk, but I wouldn't recommend sitting there during the summer months because Austin can get pretty warm.

Coal Vines

http://www.coalvinesoftexas.com

Livin the Good Life Rating=2