|
Mangia Bene Restaurant - Italian Cuisine
News & Events
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On April10th, 2006 we celebrated
our
10th Anniversary.
WE
WANT TO SAY
THANK
YOU
FROM ALL
OF US
AT MANGIA
BENE!
IT'S
BECAUSE OF YOU THAT WE ARE ABLE
TO CELEBRATE THIS ANNIVERSARY.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mangia Bene Restaurant in Martinez is Proud to Welcome and Introduce
our Two Sister Restaurants in the Cities of Benicia & Hayward.
Buon Appetito
191 Military East Street
Benicia, CA. 94510
707-746-7410
Buon Appetito
917 A Street
Hayward, CA. 94541
510-247-0120
FULL BAR SERVICE AS OF
2/14/2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Head Chef Martino Oviedo cooks, "Linguine ai Frutti di mare"
at Mangia Bene in Martinez. Bob Larson/Contra Costa Times
A decade of distinction well worth celebrating
John Birdsall
Contra
Costa Times
Published: Thursday, February
9, 2006
It's hard enough
for even a big restaurant to stay open 10 years, a place flush enough to pay a public relations hack to grind out a continuous
series of press releases ("FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Chez XYZ Launches New Winter Squash Tasting Menu!").
Line cooks turn over. Chefs leave. Dining rooms start
to look sketchy. A restaurant concept that seemed fresh a decade ago can suddenly seem as dated -- in that peculiar brass
and teal and dusty rose way -- as a set from "The Golden Girls."
In the restaurant business, even after you've paid off the original investors, longevity is harder
to achieve than racking up an initial glowing review.
So when a modest, independent strip mall restaurant clocks 10 years, a place suffering under the heady exhaust
fumes from the KFC next door with a storefront dwarfed by a sprawling Petco, it seems like something to celebrate. You figure
it has to be a place with such irresistible appeal, tended over the years as carefully as some cherished hobby garden, that
it could withstand almost anything.
What's
remarkable about Mangia Bene (it'll mark 10 years on April 26) is that its particular take on Italian food can still --
in the best dishes -- show such discipline.
Kitchens
with longevity can succumb to the failures of photocopying -- a signature dish reproduced so many times that, like an image
whose copy keeps getting placed on the glass tray and recopied, its outlines are blurred.
That's not the case with Mangia Bene's salads. On a Thursday night, after the executive chef
has left for the day and you might expect the guys on the line to start taking shortcuts, you'd think things could get
sloppy. But an Insalata di Pera ($5.95) has distinct outlines and a crisp, restrained personality. It's a loose cone of
gently bitter greens barely dressed, seeded with thin slices of firm, ripe pear, shavings of ricotta salata cheese and fresh-tasting
walnuts -- free, thankfully, of the cliche sugary coating. The salad reveals the heart of the northern Italian culinary esthetic:
fresh ingredients allowed to stand on their own, with no extraneous adornment.
Insalata Estiva ($5.95) has the kind of original personality you might not expect to find in a place
as outwardly modest as this. The tangle of tiny arugula leaves is sour from lemon juice, and there's another drift of
shaved ricotta salata. But slices of red and golden beets have absorbed vinaigrette infused with saffron -- rich, warm-tasting
and slightly coppery, saffron's an unusual and delicious enhancement of the beets' bland, earthy sweetness.
You get the feeling that Martino Olviedo (he's
been executive chef since the doors opened in 1996) has a good palate and fine instincts, even as the kitchen's execution
can't always match them. That's the case with Carpaccio ($6.95). The scant slices of thin, zinnia-pink beef have a
blood-tinged sweetness, under a too-big pile of lemony arugula leaves, shingles of grana parmesan and capers. But the beef's
suffered from being kept too long in the freezer (so it's easy to slice thin). A bit of its delicious moisture has hardened
into tiny crystals that evaporate on your tongue, and whose absence leaves the flesh with a slightly coarse, minutely webby
texture.
That seems to be true of
Mangia Bene's more complex dishes: Technique can mar otherwise excellent ingredients. Though the restaurant makes almost
all the pasta it serves -- and the quality of the pasta itself is excellent -- the pasta dishes themselves can be less than
sparkling. Linguine ai Frutti di Mare ($14.95) has nicely chewy, nicely elastic noodles, but a red sauce that's just OK
and seafood (clams, large scallops and shrimp) that has been cooked way too long.
A daily special -- Cappellacci di Pollo ($12.95) -- is a dish of stuffed fresh spinach pasta shaped
like bishops' miters. Again, the pasta's fine, but a bland, slightly grainy filling of chicken and carrots falls flat.
And the Osso Buco con Polenta ($15.95) doesn't quite have the tenderness or silken texture of the dish at its best. The
meat's solid, and its undistinguished tomato sauce is weeping fat.
It's the simplest dishes that soar. How many lackluster slabs of overcooked, muddy-tasting farmed
salmon have you eaten? Mangia Bene's Salmone alla Piastra ($16.95) -- a special -- is unexpectedly fantastic. The top
side of the big slab is uniformly brown and crisp from careful pan frying, the flesh at its heart is at just the right degree
of moist underdone, and the taste is delicately sapid, without a trace of the funky, turpentine-laced fish oil most of us
associate with salmon.
Pollo al Mattone
($13.95), a half-chicken grilled under a weight until it's flattened and uniformly crusty, is just as good. Everything
else on the plate -- a ramekin of some sugary mustard dipping sauce, stiff mashed potatoes and a big pile of some generic
vegetable medley -- is unnecessary. And though more than half the plate might be tarnished in some way, you find yourself
pushing it aside to focus on what shines.
The
things that do shine -- well, they shine with such surprising intensity that you may end up feeling like joining the celebration.
Reach East Bay food writer John Birdsall at jwbirdsall@sbcglobal.net.
MANGIA BENE
REVIEW VISIT ON FEB. 2
31/2
forks (overall value rating of our visit out of a possible 5)
• WHERE: 1170 Arnold Drive, No. 116, Martinez.
• HOURS: Lunch 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; noon-3 p.m. Saturdays; dinner 5-9:30 p.m.
Mondays-Thursdays, 4:30-10:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 4-9:30 p.m., Sundays.
• CONTACT: 925-228-9123; www.mangiabenerestaurant.com.
• CUISINE: Trattoria-style northern Italian.
• PRICES: $$$ ($13.95-$16.95).
• HOME RUN: Insalata di Pera; Pollo al Mattone.
• STRIKEOUT: Linguine ai Frutti di Mare has delicious housemade pasta, but the seafood's
overcooked.
• VEGETARIAN: Some
appetizers, salads and pastas.
•
KIDS: Great for kids with a taste for the slightly adventurous -- or ask for housemade pasta in simple red sauce.
• DESSERTS: Big and housemade. Tiramisu ($5.95)
is a light, fluffy confection with a tasty zabaglione sauce; the massive bread pudding, Budino di Pane ($5.95), is soft, smooth
and comes with a rum-spiked custard sauce.
•
FREEBIES: The housemade bread is soft, dense, rosemary-spiked focaccia baked as thick baguettes.
• BEVERAGES: Beer and a small, nicely rounded selection of
mostly Italian wines, most under $35.
•
FOOD COST (before tax and tip): $112; one appetizer, two salads, three pastas, three entrees, two desserts.
• DATE OPENED: April 26, 1996.
• PRINCIPALS: Francis Cipriani, co-owner/manager;
Martino Olviedo, co-owner/executive chef.
•
RESERVATIONS: Any size party.
•
PRIVATE PARTIES: Up to 50 in the back room.
•
NOISE LEVEL: Moderate.
• DINING
ALONE: Alcoves at the front of the restaurant feel semi-secluded from the rest of the dining room.
• SPECIAL AREA: None.
• SERVICE POINT: A bit leisurely; the young staff can be helpful and charming.
• PARKING: Free in the lot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This Website
is dedicated in Loving Memory of
Paula Cipriani
Jan.
18, 1947 - Dec. 11, 2002
You
will always be in our Heart!
Thank You for being such a Wonderful Wife, Mother, Grandmother & Friend
Thank You for being such a Wonderful Wife, Mother, Grandmother & Friend
| Poly | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|