Family Style Eating (Buca di Beppo, Pasadena)

I haven't been to Buca di Beppo in YEARS, but the one thing I remembered was that the portions were enormous. The dishes here are definitely meant to be shared family style. On this occasion we were celebrating one of my best friend's birthday. It was a blast! With everyone's busy "adult" lives, getting together with good friends is not as easy as it once was. Oh, how I miss the good old days when we were up to no good hanging out everyday. Life has sure changed but the one constant is that we'll all be friends for life!
It is a definite must to eat family style at Buca other wise you'll only get to have one or two dishes to eat. On this occasion we were able to sample a myriad of dishes that all sounded delectable, and not to mention all the beer that we drank. Usually I'm no too fond of chain restaurants, but I have to say dinner was pretty good. Sometimes dining experiences are heavily influenced by other factors other than the food. Perhaps this may have been the case, but I would have to say I left fully satiated and happy!

Buca Trio Platter

This appetizer platter consisted of Fried Calamari, Pesto Bucacini (which are fried risotto balls filled with sun-dried tomatoes & mozzarella), and the Prosciutto Stuffed Mushrooms which were baked. Initially I thought that I was going to enjoy the Pesto Bucacini, but the Prosciutto Stuffed Mushrooms were the star of this platter.... bravo!

Baked Ravioli

The baked ravioli sounded much better than it actually tasted. This dish was a chain restaurant product through and through. The marinara sauce tasted very generic and the ravioli themselves were okay. All in all this dish was decent, but I would not order them again.

Meatballs

These were absolutely enormous. Each meatball weighed half a pound! I am just glad that we went with a bunch of people, because there is no way I would've ordered a half pound meatball on my own. The meatballs were actually one of my favorite dishes of the night.

Special Penne

When we asked our waitress for any recommendations, she had recommended this special of the night which was not on the menu. This penne dish was my absolute favorite of the night. The penne was served with chicken and some herbs with red chili peppers. This dish was simply delicious. I just wish that it was on the regular menu. Yummmm!

Chicken Saltimbocca

This dish consisted of chicken breast, prosciutto, artichoke hearts, capers, with a lemon butter sauce. Mrs. Gohan liked this dish strictly on the fact that it had artichoke hearts although the chicken itself was a little dry and uneventful.

Porcheta Rustica

The Porchetta Rustica was a pork loin served with a red wine and balsamic vinegar sauce with blueberries (yes I said blueberries), capers, and hazelnuts. Similar to the the Chicken Saltimbocca, the pork dish was a little too dry. The flavoring of the dish however was quite nice. I never had a pork dish with blueberries. I always think of apple sauce but not blueberries. In fact, the blueberries complimented the pork very nicely!

Tiramisu

For some reason or another I find myself eating a lot of tiramisu lately. It's not that I like it that much, but for some reason I am eating quite a bit of it. I did not care too much for Bucca di Beppo's version. The flavoring of rum was way too overpowering!

Chocolate Vesuvio

This dessert was definitely a heavy dessert. The chocolate cake must have weighed a couple of pounds, or maybe that's how many pounds I was putting on eating all this food :)



Buca di Beppo
80 W. Green Street
Pasadena, CA. 91105
626-792-7272