Ciao Bella - Bloomington, MN

There's an Italian restaurant near the hotel I like to stay at when I'm in the Twin Cities that I'd been wanting to try for quite sometime.  I had a long day of driving around meeting with dealers and when I got back to the hotel around 7:30 that evening I was just drained.  I thought, "Now is the time to go try Ciao Bella!"  It was less than a five minute drive from my hotel to Ciao Bella in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington.  (see map) 

Local Twin Cities restaurateur Rick Webb is the man behind Ciao Bella that opened 20 years ago.  Three years after opening Ciao Bella, Webb bought the venerable Lexington in downtown St. Paul, a fine dining establishment that had been in business since 1935.  In 1998, Webb sold the Lexington to another restaurateur in the area and a year later opened Zelo, an upscale contemporary Italian restaurant in Minneapolis.  Not long after that, Webb opened Bacio, another contemporary Italian restaurant located in suburban Minnetonka.  

In 2008, Webb sold Zelo and Bacio to concentrate fully on Ciao Bella.  However in early 2014, Webb had an opportunity to buy back The Lexington after a proposed sale to a local restaurant owner fell through.  He bought "The Lex" and continues to run it today.  And just last year, Webb reacquired Zelo and reopened it in February of this year after a complete renovation, and bringing back the restaurant's original chef and manager.    

It was close to 8 p.m. when I got to Ciao Bella.   The main dining room featured arched supports across the top with accent lighting.  A large stone hearth was the center piece in the elegant dining area.

There was a large wood burning oven off to the side of the dining area for fresh baked breads and flatbread pizzas served at Ciao Bella.  The ornate stonework was interesting and classy looking.  

There's an outdoor bar/patio area at Ciao Bella that was full of diners when I got there that evening.  It had rained heavily during the day, but it had cleared off and was a nice evening by the time I got into the restaurant.  

I ended up sitting at the bar at Ciao Bella.  A male and female bartender tag-teamed working with me that evening.  I ordered up a beer and looked through the menu one of the bartenders handed me.   

It was an extensive menu at Ciao Bella, one that featured a number of old world and contemporary pasta entrees, fresh seafood, naturally raised beef, pork and chicken dishes, pizza, and small plates for appetizers.  A number of things jumped out at me.  I was sort of in the mood for pasta and the spaghetti with braised sausage and veal meatballs topped with a bolognese sauce was the first thing that called my name.  But I didn't really want to do something basic like spaghetti and meatballs on my first visit to Ciao Bella.  And someone just down the bar from me got a pizza that looked delicious.  The Sicilian sausage and pepperoni pizza was the one that I was interested in the most.

But I ended up going back to the pasta part of the menu and I decided upon the Tortiglioni Rossa that featured twisted tubular pasta along with Molinari sausage, roasted red peppers, sweet peas, and mixed in a Romana red sauce.  I got the smaller of the two portions they offer on the menu at Ciao Bella and it was more than enough for me.  The flavor was wonderful - the large chunks of sausage had a bit of a spicy bite, but the red sauce was light and didn't overpower the overall taste of the chopped roasted red peppers that were mixed in.  I was more than happy with my choice of pasta.   

The upscale nature of Ciao Bella didn't make me feel uncomfortable as a single diner.  The atmosphere was definitely elegant for an Italian restaurant, but everyone who worked there was friendly and welcoming.  And the food was all that I hoped that it would be - delicious!  The Tortiglioni Rossa was outstanding, a "spot-hitter" for me as I was looking for something other than a basic pasta dish on my first visit to Ciao Bella.  And as I left, I decided that it would not be my only visit to this very good restaurant.