DINNER AT LA CANTINA - Bridgeland

This hidden gem is located in the basement of the Calgary Italian Club. We came here for my friend's birthday on a Friday, and there were a lot of us - more than 20. They gave us a long table to sit at in the middle of the place. Considering there were so many of us, the service was very good. We usually go to this other Italian place for her birthday, but the place switched owners and name, and the food isn't as good according to my friends. So she picked this place since she knows the Roma Catering group do good food. Also, they have indoor bocce in this place which we didn't get a chance to try out.

Since we knew the food wasn't coming out fast, it did give us time to catch up. We actually spent a long time in here, and they never rushed us. I was a bit sad that I didn't order an appetizer since I wasn't all that hungry and had no one to share it with that was siting close to me - the artichoke looked very good though. I love artichokes. In fact, all the appies that came out looked very good, and I heard they were very good as well. Next time I'm here, I'll just be ordering appies.

Vitello Panini with Grilled Veggies and Roasted Potato Wedges $18

I'm very sad that I didn't take a picture of this - not a lot of my friends know I have a blog or post on zomato - and I feel awkward taking pictures of food when eating in a big crowd. The plate looked so pretty as pretty a plate can get with a sandwich and veggies. The veal was thin and breaded. They put it on a long (6") crusty bread with marinara sauce and leafy lettuce. There was the right amount of sauce on it because the bread wasn't a soggy mess on the bottom. The sandwich had a nice soft crunch. The veggies consist of broccolini, zucchini, and red peppers. I think these veggies were roasted and grilled since the zucchini had grill marks on them. They were not overly seasoned but they did still retained their crispiness to them. The roasted potato wedges were just roasted potato wedges but it is good to eat some veggies after the long food feast during the holidays.

Deep Fried Cheesecake $7

This one I did manage to sneak a picture off :). One of my friend and I decided to share a dessert but then she ordered her own dessert too. She ordered tiramisu which I think tasted very good. She thought it was okay. She did have some of my though so I didn't feel too guilty of eating the cheesecake by myself. The cheesecake, minus the crust, was wrapped in a wonton wrapper (it looked like a wonton wrapper) and deep fried. The dessert was nice and warm. There was some sort of cinnamon spice in it. The crust was kinda chewy in that it was kinda hard to cut into pieces with a fork. I just wanted to pick up the whole thing with my hand and eat it like a spring roll but I didn't. One side was drizzled with chocolate and the other side caramel and strawberry sauce. This dish did remind me of Neapolitan ice cream. This dessert was very good.

This might be my friends and I go to place now for Italian food and birthday parties involving Italian food. I don't think you can go wrong with ordering anything on the menu. Everything looks good and delicious.

La Cantina
416 1 Ave NE
(403) 264-2032