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| Indian | Japanese | Lunch | Mexican | Occasion | Pizza | Steak |
| We find it very odd that Bowling Green does not have a single locally owned and run Italian restaurant. We have almost every kind of locally owned nationality restaurant except Italian. Lexington, Louisville and Nashville have several. Bella Notte, Casanova's, Guiseppe's, and others are extremely popular, especially on weekends. But the only true sit down Italian restaurant in Bowling Green is The Olive Garden. It's a great place, with its cutting edge interpretations of classic cooking, but it's Corporate Italian. It would be nice to have at least one or two of those small, family run establishments where old recipes brought over from Sicily, Corsica, Tuscany or Venice were the basis for the menu and the matron or patron was circulating among the tables talking with the customers. We list here the Bowling Green restaurants serving Italian food, but we feel this is one of our weakest categories. The restaurants we do have do a good job, but this is one of the world's most important cuisines. We don't have enough Italian restaurants, and we don't have enough variety. |  |
Olive Garden |
Fazoli's |
Mancino's |
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The Olive Garden may be Corporate Italian, but it's good. Among appetizers we like the Smoked Mozzarella Fonduta, an oven baked mix of smoked mozzarella, provolone, parmesan and romano cheese served with Tuscan bread. If you don't eat Italian often, you might prefer the Sampler, a platter of squid, mushrooms, fried zucchini, chickcn fingers, fried mozzarella and roast meat ravioli. Of the three soups we'll take the Toscana, a blend of spicy sausage, russet potatoes and cavolo greens in a creamy broth. Kids will be happy with one of their pizzas, which come with a salad. You can get six kinds of Yuppee coffee, but the Caffe la Toscana is more authentic and equally delicious. However, as beverages go, we much prefer the Villa Antinori, a great Italian wine, a blend of three kinds of grapes from Sangiovese vineyards. From entrees, we recommend the Mixed Grille (skewers of marinated steak, chicken, vegetables, and Tuscan potatoes), Seafood Portofino (mussels, scallops, shrimp and mushrooms in linguine in garlic butter wine sauce), and Sausage Rollatini (oven baked lasagna filled with cheeses, sausages, tomato alfredo sauce and mozzarella). |
| Fazoli's offers a full menu of Italian fast food, although the manager takes issue with the phrase. He insists he serves "Italian food, freshly prepared, fast." It gets its menu and basic ingredients from the corporation, but the pastas, sauces, breadsticks and salads are prepared during the day and the main dishes are not placed in the oven until you order them. Fazolli's carries all the traditional Italian favorites and adds a few unique twists of their own. The core of the menu is the eight pasta entrees baked and served in a white ceramic casserole dish. Of this core, we think their best are their Spaghetti & Meatballs, Chicken Parmiagano and Rigatoni Romano, although we have friends who swear by their Ravioli & Meat Sauce. You might consider the Sampler Platter, which includes a small portion of several major entrees. The Sliced Italian Sausage & Pasta, and the Tortellini & Sun Dried Tomato Rustico are newer creations which have found a loyal following. Fazolli's offers the usual Subs, Pizzas, and desserts like Italian Lemon Ice. |  |
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Mancino's is a national chain specializing in "Grinders," but also serving other Italian specialties. A Grinder traces back to World War I, when Italian immigrants set up sandwich shops near the U.S. Naval shipyards. In these shops they would place huge amounts of high quality meats and cheeses in a cast iron food grinder, turn the crank, and produce a mix which they then spread on large freshly baked Italian rolls, further bake in brick ovens, and garnish with fresh tomato and lettuce. These large hot lunchtime or work break sandwiches became very popular with the shipworkers, who came to refer to them as "Grinders." After the war, sandwich makers drifted off to urban neighborhoods across the Northeast, where Grinders became a fad long before burgers, pizza and other fast food came into existence. Mancino's offers three sizes of Grinders ($5 third, $6 half and $9 full sized) in 17 classic and 13 contemporary ("gourmet") flavors. The Original Grinder includes ham, sausage, salami, mushrooms, onions, peppers, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and mayo. Variations on this offer Turkey, Chicken, Crab, Fish, Stromboli, Meatloaf, BBQ and Tuna in differing combinations. Gourmet versions include Southwest, Reuben, Chicago Steak, Ranch and Cordon Bleu. You might consider Mancino's as Hot Sub specialists. These are good. |
Contact us at GustouCuisine@aol.com. |
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