Il Fornaio (Irvine, CA) - The Episodic Eater

We went out for a nice, quiet dinner for the first Friday of 2014! I remember going to Il Fornaio as a child sometimes, but I had not been there in over 10 years. I was not sure what to expect, but since our dinner partners chose this spot, we were happy to comply. 🙂

The restaurant itself is gorgeous.

I will have to come back soon to play some bocce ball!

The menu is completely Italian from the date to the top all the way to absolutely everything on the menu. Sometimes I wish that I learned Italian as a language, but I can at least get through a menu even without the English translations. You know, the important words to know!

I am a carb-aholic, so it is very difficult to for me to turn down a bread basket.

Three of the four of us started with a Minestrone soup. Good, but not excellent.

However, I shared this pasta on Instagram because it was pretty amazing! The Pappardelle Gialla ai Funghi is described as:

“Fresh wide ribbon saffron pasta, porcini, crimini and shiitake mushrooms, Taleggio and Grana Padano.”

Beautiful and delicious!

This was the Ravioli All Lucana that my guy ordered. I couldn’t have it, but he loved it! It was described as:

“Organic spinach ravioli with Italian sausage, ricotta, Grana Padano and fennel; topped with fresh tomatoes, spicy tomato sauce with imported peperoncino, pecorino pepato cheese and fresh basil.”

This was the Linguine Mare Chiaro, which was WONDERFUL. I had a couple of bites and thought it was great.

The Margherita Pizza was shared by the table, so there was only one slice left at the end. 🙂

By the way, this is the interior of the restaurant. There is an inner courtyard too, where they had a private party. It was a little odd because it was like they were in a fishbowl. Oh well!