Ca’ Bianca Ristorante Italiano

After our fabulous week in Napa Valley, we went back to Santa Rosa for our third visit in less than two years. During our week in Santa Rosa Steve and I celebrated our 53rd Wedding Anniversary with dinner at beautiful Ca’ Bianca Ristorante Italiano.

Ca’ Bianca is a charming Italian restaurant elegantly set in a 19th-century house with a full bar, patios for outdoor dining and lush gardens.

The cuisine at Ca’ Bianca Ristorante Italiano is a blend from multiple regions in Italy. The recipes are inspired from the food in Milano in the north to Sicilia in the south. They specialize in making their own bread and pasta in house. In fact it’s so fresh because it is made daily. Along with house made pasta and bread, they highlight high quality ingredients that include grass-fed Angus steak, fresh caught seafood and farm fresh vegetables. They focus on fresh, local and organic ingredients.

Great steaks, seafood classics, creative starters, garden fresh salads and decadent, traditional desserts – what more could we want in a place to celebrate our many years of marriage?

Ca’ Bianca Ristorante Italiano has been a treasure trove of warm welcome and charm in the heart of Santa Rosa for 25 years. And since it was the place that our friend Pam (the Stuhlmuller winemaker’s mom) recommended, we knew we were in the right place!

The intimate setting of being in an old home really added to the enjoyment and made us all warm and fuzzy, as our son says. We had found the perfect spot for our annual celebration.

We started off with some of that Ciabatta-like house-made bread which was served with fruity olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The bread was so good that it was a tough fight to avoid finishing it before our appetizer came.

And speaking of our appetizer…we shared the rich, creamy, cheesy Polenta app which was topped with wild mushrooms, deeply flavored tomato sauce and gorgonzola, then baked until all hot and bubbly. In order to get every single drop of goodness from the dish we just had to order more bread.

Our entrées were placed before us and the portions were HUGE. After devouring our Polenta starter and almost a loaf and a half of bread, there was no way we could eat our entire plates of food.

Steve ordered the Spaghettini Carbonara. With its creamy, eggy richness that was enhanced by Pecorino and pancetta, it was fit for a king. But King Steve could only eat half. After all, he wanted to save some room for dessert.

As did I. And there wasn’t a chance that I could eat more than half of my rack of lamb. But that just meant we had dinner for another night. We rarely take home doggy bags. But with food this amazing, we had to. My herb crusted lamb was cooked perfectly and so succulent and tender that I nibbled every morsel from the bones. The accompanying vegetables tasted just picked. They were well seasoned and cooked just right. Even reheated they weren’t mushy or over cooked.

But what’s an anniversary celebration without dessert? Since we couldn’t agree on which dessert to share, we each ordered what we wanted and “kinda” shared.

Steve had the luscious Crème Brûlée and I chose the decadent Delizia di Cioccoloto, a flourless Belgian chocolate Amaretto mousse cake. Yes they were both as yummy as you would imagine.

We really loved our evening at Ca’ Bianca Ristorante Italiano and look forward to returning to Santa Rosa so we can go back for another delicious meal!