Bellisio's In Duluth

A trip to Duluth, MN is never complete without stopping at Bellisio's. It is one of my favorite classic Italian restaurants. Last week I took Wednesday off so Nancy and I could take a little road trip to Duluth to see the show "Riverdance." Nancy has worked in the same office with Kevin for a long time and I call her the "dorm mom" of his office. She hadn't been to Duluth in years so I asked her if she wanted to stop at Bellisio's for lunch.

The atmosphere is Bellesio's is always warm and inviting and the staff are friendly and helpful. The menu will make you salivate and the wine menu can be intimidating. I have read novels that are smaller than that wine list. I love the racks and racks of wine bottles that line the walls in the restaurant.It's very Italian.

I talked Nancy into trying a glass of moscato which she loved. A lot of women I know love that wine because it is so light, sweet, sparkling and doesn't have a bit of dryness in it at all. Even Kevin's mom will drink it and she doesn't drink much wine. There are many different kinds of moscato and they all taste pretty similiar. So if you like a sweeter, lighter white wine, try it! If you can't remember the name of it, I told Nancy I remembered it this way when I was first introduced to it. Tomayto, tomahto, mosquito, moscahto. Hey, whatever works! I'll write another post on just moscato wines some other time because I could go on and on about moscato. It is one of my favorites.

Nancy and I started out with the seafood bisque. It was rich and creamy with chunks of crabmeat. The bread that came with it was rustic and buttery.

Here is Nancy laughing at me for whipping my digital camera out to take pictures of my plate.

We both decided to have the lobster broth-infused risotto with shrimp and aspargus. The dish was good, it was clean and simple and the shrimp were cooked to perfection.However, I have a little problem. I am always looking for a dish that as I told Nancy..."blows me away." It is probably like a high that a drug addict looks for, whenever I find a dish that is extraordinary, it is a high for me. When lunch is over thirty dollars I expect to find that high and sometimes I am disappointed. But don't let my little problem stop you from eating at Bellisio's. While the food wasn't something that made my knees quiver, it was still good and the tastes were very simple and not muddled. That is probably good for a lot of people, for me I am looking for the thing that makes me say, "Wow!"
Trust me, I will be back and next time I will have the fettuccini which is always a "wow" dish at Bellisio's. (And the show "Riverdance" was amazing!)