Stellas’s Italian Bistro: Keeps you coming back
As we launch a second year of restaurant reviews, it was not difficult to decide to start with Stella’s Italian Bistro – where we dined extremely well on multiple occasions over the summer.
Not only is Stella’s Italian Bistro one of the best of our community’s many Italian restaurants, but this summer they offered a special menu where all entrees are $16 and come with a nice house salad, soup, or bruschetta.
After partaking of several of the entrees on this summer menu – most of which come right off Stella’s regular menu — we concluded that it made little sense to eat at home. You could dine at Stella’s for weeks without having the same meal twice, and be mighty happy about having done so.
If you hurry, the summer menu may still be in effect.
Now two years old, Stella’s is the most upscale venture of restaurateur Croce Giambanco, who also has several versions of Nino’s –one on the barrier island across from Humiston Park as well as a couple on the mainland — dishing out pizza and pasta.
Stella’s, as we have noted before, is different. Even though Stella’s is very much a white-table-cloth restaurant, the table cloths are black.
Soups are one of Stella’s specialties. A smoky lentil soup enhanced by pancetta has a deserved reputation for being one of the best, but I also like Stella’s pasta fagioli – a lighter formulation of the traditional Italian white bean and pasta soup which is perfect as an appetizer.
My companion’s appetizer choice on our most recent visit was a beet salad ($8) – bite-sized chunks of beet on a bed of spinach offset with a red pepper dressing. Extremely tasty.
But on most visits, he opted for the calamari fritti ($9) accompanied by batonnets of zucchini. The lightly breaded calamari are always tender and flashfried perfectly. My favorite entrée this summer was the calamari fra diavolo, the same tender calamari sautéed and served with a fra diavolo sauce over a bed of linguini. Spicy, but not too spicy, this dish was just short of perfection.
Another dish I enjoyed at Stella’s was one not included on the summer menu on our most recent visit, the Pesche Livornese ($25), which consisted of halibut, mussels and clams poached with tomatoes, kalamata olives, and capers and served over a bed of linguini. Definitely recommended.
But on other summer visits, I enjoyed the linguini with calamari, the gamberi arrabbiata (sautéed shrimp with fresh garlic, pancetta and spiced tomatoes served over linguini), the gamberi al pesto (sautéed shrimp with a very smooth cream pesto sauce served over linguini), and the vitello piccata, veal medallions sautéed with artichokes and capers finished with a white wine and lemon sauce.
My companion on our most recent visit had the linguini carbonara, a lighterthan- expected rendition of what is traditionally a very rich dish that adds applewood smoked bacon and pancetta to a cream sauce.
But over the summer months, he particularly enjoyed the Vitello Palermo, a slice of lightly breaded veal topped with eggplant and fresh mozzarella, fried and topped with a tasty marinara sauce, and the Vitello Saltimbocca a very light and flavorful rendition of this traditional veal, prosciutto and fontina cheese dish.
On evenings where you still have room for dessert, the Tiramisu is probably the best choice. Dinner for two with a bottle of wine comes to about $100 (though sticking to the summer menu, you could wine-and-dine well for under $70).
Offering a combination of excellent Italian food, in an attractive setting with great service, Stella’s remains at the top of its game, and continues rewarding its devoted fans.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com.
The reviewer is a beachside resident who dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.
Hours
Tuesday through Sunday, 5 to 9 pm
Bar
Wine and Beer
Address (MAP)
4166 Atlantic Blvd.,Vero Beach, Telephone: (772) 564-7979
