| posthoc's Late Night Restaurant Guide |
Benissimo…it means, "really really good" in Italian and that says it all.
Tucked away in a hidden swerve of the road in Corte Madera, Benissimo is one of the Bay Area’s best-kept secrets. Probably because it is impossible to find.
I took the kids to meet my parents for my fifteen-year-old’s birthday. Even though Benissimo provides a lovely and romantic atmosphere, we dressed like bums, except for my mother who was elegant, as usual. We all fit right in.
We ordered a ton of stuff from the menu and it was all delish. Being from Marin, my mom and I shared the insalata di arugula salad for two ($5.95). Pure yum. On to the crispy calamari fritti ($6.50), which the kids inhaled and my dad avoided, as he is on a perpetual health food diet of some kind that for some reason does not include fried foods.
I sipped a great glass of house chianti classico in a ladylike fashion, until I was almost too sloshed to remember what the food tasted like. But it’s all coming back to me now.
I ordered the spaghetti putanesca ($11.95) or, as I like to refer to it, the Ho Pasta: it was fresh, spicy, subtle and heavenly. Ate every drop. My daughter ordered the delicate ravioli della casa, with light cream sauce ($11.95). So long Chef Boyardee! This ravioli is the real McCoy. My son ordered the pizza ala campofranco ($5.50 for the small). The crust was thin, the ingredients flavorful. My older son ordered the expensive steak, bisteca rustica ($18.95); I guess he’s enjoying the luxury now before he goes off to college and eats macaroni and cheese for breakfast. Mom ordered the cioppino ($13.95); being both a San Franciscan and an Easterner, she is the hard-to-please in the category of cioppino. Hell, she is hard to please, altogether. So it was with a collective sigh of relief that we heard her exclaim over the excellence of the dish. Of course she was also enjoying the chianti, so who knows what she really thought!
Perfect restaurant for date night. I’ll remember that if I ever have a date. Perfect for special events like ours. A traveling violinist played happy birthday for my daughter. And best of all, my dad paid the bill. Benissimo, 18 Tamalpais Drive, Corte Madera, Marin County, 415.927.3965. Dinner Only, Credit cards accepted.
-- Jolie Kanat
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