Right before New Year’s Eve, I headed out to visit my parents in New Jersey for a couple days. It had been a while since I was in the old stomping groups, so it was time to head back. My Dad also mentioned a couple times that I should come hang out with him and my Mom since CT was away in South Africa and I had time off from work. What’s the number one thing to do while visiting the parents? Eating, of course.
After going to see True Grit, which was very good by the way, we headed to my parent’s current favorite Italian restaurant. They go in phases of 3-6 months of having a favorite Italian place before they move on to another place. The current place of the moment is La Terra Nostra Ristorante.
We decided to share the Seafood Salad to start our meal. It was a pretty large salad for about $11. Tons of fresh seafood including scungili, mussels, calamari, shrimp. The lemon and olive oil dressing was tasty but a little overwhelming. Some fresh bread helped to sop up some of the excess dressing.
All entrees come with salad. This salad was dressed much better than the seafood salad. The greens were fresh and plentiful.
Mom got the Linguine a la Jennifer which had various seafood in a light tomato sauce.
Dad ordered the Vitello Saltinbocca, which was thin slices of veal topped with prosciutto & mozzarella over spinach in a light brown sauce. He has ordered this dish before in couple different restaurants. What’s not to like? Veal and prosciutto with cheese!
I had a similar dish, Vitello Valentino, thin slices of veal stuffed with prosciutto & mozzarella, breaded & fried, topped with mushrooms in madera wine sauce. When it came out, it looked like a hamburger. It was pretty good, but a bit on the salty side as expected with those ingredients. There was also a bit too much cheese for me, which my Dad happily added to his own dish.
Check out the innards!
All in all, it was a nice dinner with the parents on my first night back to NJ in a while. The food wasn’t life changing, but it was tasty and reasonably priced. I wonder how long it will last on my parents’ go to place?
CT says
My favorite italian veal dish was always veal milenese (pounded thin, breaded/fried and served with a wedge of lemon…yum!). The Vitello Saltinbocca looks pretty good! The Valentino too… but maybe a little too much for me.
MLC says
Not necessarily the favorite, but not bad for convenience and simple food. Having a Restaurant.com coupon also sweetens the deal.
Feisty Foodie says
I love Restaurant.com … I was mad when they made the minimum purchase at Ben’s Best $50… need more than two people for that!
The food looks good and $11, that seafood salad would be my dinner, haha.
T.C. says
Not a big onion person but Seafood salad looks AWESOME!!
Pasta and meat entrees looks so delicious. I want to eat it ALL. lol.
BLC says
Excellent photos
Hungry says
I am a sucker for wine sauce. Now that I know how to make it easily, I still order it at restaurants. Hahahah!