Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

Palermos
Cucina Italiana
2050 Columbus Parkway, Benicia
748-1011
Monday ? Thursday: 11:30 – 9:00
Friday ? Saturday: 11:30 ? 10:00
Sunday: 5:00 ? 9:00

Meals at Palermos start off with warm crusty French Bread and a dipping sauce of sun-dried tomato pesto in olive oil. This dip with its combination of sweet, spicy and salty flavors could be addictive. The trick is to save room for other courses.

The appetizer of New Zealand mussels tossed in a lemon garlic butter sauce was beautifully constructed with the bright yellow sauce a background for the mussels garnished with red bell pepper, capers, and parsley. This dish could have used more garlic.

The French Onion soup, and a salad with vinaigrette dressing tasted fresh and homemade. The soup had a large crouton with cheese and a rich, smooth, warm broth. The salad was freshly chopped romaine with a few slices of mushroom and carrot.

Again it was the dressing on the Shrimp Spinach salad that made it something special. The warm Dijon sun-dried tomato dressing is one of those examples of how the sum is greater than the parts. The prawns large and cooked enough to be tender.

The Pasta Alaina combined prawns, spinach, artichoke hearts, snow peas and sun-dried tomatoes in a garlic, lemon, and white wine paprika sauce with fusilli pasta. Somehow all the flavors come together. The spice was a sharp contrast to the rich seafood. The vegetables remained slightly crunchy.

Palermos has an ambitious menu for the small display kitchen. There are many dishes to try here, from the traditional Caesar salad and Pasta Bolognese, a ground beef marinara sauce, to the creative like the Jambalaya, prawns and chicken with proscuitto in a spicy Cajun sauce over rigatoni. Vegetarians have choices such as the Aglio Verdura, fresh vegetables in a garlic olive oil sauce tossed with linguini. Pizzas are also available.

The thing that makes all these dishes work is attention to detail. Nothing was over cooked, foods arrived at correct temperatures and the flavors blended together. This is accomplished with teamwork between the kitchen and the floor staff.

Service was very attentive. With each course, except desert, the server offered fresh pepper, freshly grated parmesan cheese and hot pepper flakes. When our server was busy with another table, a man delivered our food from the kitchen.

It may be difficult to save room for desert, but here its worth the effort. On the night we visited, there was apple crumble, chocolate souffl, cannoli, tiramisu, and a variety of gelato flavors to choose from. Everything except the gelato is made in the Palermos kitchen.

Our tiramisu was light with a great texture and lots of chocolate. It was a child-friendly version, without the heavy liquor or coffee flavors. A cup of espresso went perfectly with this.

Two things mar the experience of dining at Palermos. One is the location, a crowded strip mall off 680. There is outdoor dining, but the view is of a parking lot and a gas station. The other is an uninspired wine list. However there is a decent chianti by the glass as well as some California wines.

Photos (click to enlarge):

[tags]restaurant review[/tags]

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