Campiello

Last week was restaurant week. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, one week every march has many of the top restaurants in the Twin Cities offering 3 course prix fixe menus for a low price. Its organized by Minneapolis-St. Paul magazine, to promote visiting a new restaurant.

We decided to visit Campiello, an Italian restaurant located in Eden Prairie.

What I had:
Pasta e Fagioli Soup
Roasted chicken with spinach and mushroom risotto
Black Walnut bread pudding with cinnamon gelato

Pat had:
Fried calamari with basil aioli
Hanger steak with yukon gold potatoes
Tiramisu.

The food was wonderful!! The soup I had was flavorful, yet simple. Rich, but not so much that you can't finish. Great with the fresh baked crusty bread they brought.

My entree was orgasmic. The chicken is roasted over a wood fire, so it has a smoky flavor along with the perfectly cooked, juicy chicken. And it was a whole half chicken, so a decent portion! The risotto was perfectly cooked, but a little too buttery for my taste. I like a little more cheese in my risotti, but it was still really good.

But the dessert was the capper. The bread pudding was good, but the cinnamon gelato.... omigod that just set it off so well. Gelato is a richer type of iced dessert that takes on the flavor of what its mixed with so much better than regular ice cream(IMHO), and it is softer than regular ice cream. That part was so good I could have been satisfied with just that!!

Pat enjoyed his meal as well. The calamari were crispy, but not tough, and the batter had a slight kick to it, likely a bit of cayenne pepper that tasted really good with the basil aioli. The steak was perfectly cooked, but what he really enjoyed were the potatoes, which were creamy and cheesy. Tiramisu was adequate.

For restaurant week, these meals were affordable. However, to go to this restaurant on a regular night will be a mite expensive. Perhaps save this for a nice evening out, but I wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant.