Nov
21, 2002 — Fairhaven
is one of my favorite places to hang out, wandering the historic
district's sidewalks, window shopping, popping in to make
purchases, enjoying a coffee and visiting the bunnies in their
hutches at A Lot of Flowers, the open-air garden center.
D'Anna's DeliCafé & Catering Co. recently moved into the
previous site of Café Cecile and brought even more appeal to the
foot traffic-friendly neighborhood.
Many will recognize the D'Anna's name, thanks to D'Anna's Café Italiano on North State Street. The successful
— and
scrumptious — eatery is one of my favorite Bellingham bastions
for Italian eats.
This D'Anna's noshing namesake branched out from owner
Michael D'Anna's ravioli company. Furthering the evolution of
D'Anna's, Michael's sister Nancy D'Anna-Schaffer, the longtime
manager of the downtown restaurant, opened the smaller, more
casual Fairhaven offshoot in August with her husband, Mark.
If you've been to D'Anna's full-service restaurant, you'll
find some familiar fare at D'Anna's DeliCafé, such as the
distinctive vinaigrette on the garden salad that's served with
sandwiches, and the fresh pastas that can be purchased for home
preparation. But other delights are unique to the Fairhaven
location, and worthy of a visit.
If you're a morning person, you can stop in and enjoy
espresso and fresh granola, a muffin or other morning munchies.
|
D'Anna's
DeliCafé
& Catering Co. |
|
Location: 1307 11th St., Fairhaven
Phone: 752-3390
Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday through
Friday 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday
Serving: Eat-in or take-out Italian-influenced
breakfast goodies, salads, sandwiches and pasta.
Menu items sampled:
No. 7: American hero
sandwich $5.95
No. 1: grilled chicken breast sandwich
$6.95
No. 10: roasted eggplant and red pepper sandwich
$6.95
Chicken orzo Siciliano salad $6.95 per pound
Butternut squash ravioli $9.25 per pound
Lemon bar $2.50
Bottled water $1.50 |
I'm not exactly energetic in the early hours, so I visited
D'Anna's DeliCafé for both lunch and dinner, and found the
eatery a pleasant place at either time of day.
Grabbing a quick lunch to go is a snap at D'Anna's
DeliCafé.
I looked over a chalkboard decorated with colorful descriptions
of a dozen specialty sandwiches, realized they all sounded
great, and somewhat randomly settled on the No. 7, an American
hero.
Thin slices of ham and roast beef nestled on top of thicker
pieces of fresh turkey, topped with Swiss cheese, bright-red
tomatoes, ribbons of sweet red onion and leafy lettuce, all on a
chewy ciabatta roll and covered liberally with tantalizing honey
mustard dressing. The sandwich was a winner from the first bite,
but the terrific topper of sweet and tangy honey mustard put it
over the edge.
Most sandwiches at D'Anna's DeliCafé are served hot or cold,
depending on your preference. The tuna melt is always served
hot, natch, while the turkey breast with havarti, slices of tart
green apple and honey mustard is only served cold.
I also ordered a small container of chicken orzo Siciliano
salad (marinated chicken breast, Sicilian olives, orzo pasta,
olive oil, herbs and raisins). Huge halves of salty green olives
were offset by the sweet raisins, giving the side dish more than
enough interest to stand alone as an entree.
Everything in the deli case looked tempting, from the
puttanesca with tomatoes, capers and anchovies to pasta,
prosciutto, and chanterelle salad of bow-tie pasta in a creamy
white sauce finished with fresh peas. Any of these can be taken
home for $6.95 per pound.
There are also daily lunch specials offering half a sandwich
with soup or salad.
A rainy evening a week or so later found my husband and me
ducking into D'Anna's DeliCafé for a light dinner.
Again it was difficult to choose from the array of appealing
sandwich offerings. I selected the No. 10, while my husband
never got past perusing the No. 1 before he was sold. We both
ordered our sandwiches grilled, adding a dollar to the price.
|
Reader tips wanted |
|
If you have
recommendations for future roundups of
scrumptious soups or awesome appetizers offered in local
restaurants, fork 'em over. E-mail suggestions to StaceeSledge@hotmail.com. |
We grabbed a table in the front window of the open, airy
space and enjoyed low strains of Patsy Cline while we waited for
our meal to be served, checking out items for sale on three
bakers racks that displayed California olive oil, ceramic pieces
from Italy and canned Italian tomatoes.
My sandwich was built between two thick slices of sourdough
bread with slight grill marks, cradling layers of eggplant,
roasted red pepper, tomato slices and roasted garlic aioli. As
different as it was from the one I'd had the week before, this
sandwich was equally satisfying.
My husband's grilled chicken breast sandwich impressed him,
too, with imported Gruyere cheese, roasted red peppers, argali
and garlic aioli on a ciabatta roll.
Both our sandwiches were accompanied by glistening greens
tossed with the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and seasonings that
make up D'Anna's simple but spectacular vinaigrette.
For dessert, we split a sizeable rectangle wedge of lemon bar,
the sharp, creamy filling balanced by the thick, flaky crust,
and topped with a thick layer of powdered sugar.
There's more to D'Anna's DeliCafé
than soups, sandwiches and
salads for eat-in or take-away. They have an impressive meat and
cheese selection for any recipe need you might have. And both
times I was there people were meeting with staff members to
discuss catering options.
You can also take their fabulous, fresh, flash-frozen pastas
home for quick, easy, delicious meals.
We ordered a pound of butternut squash ravioli to take home
and prepared it a few nights later. The pillows of pasta were so
flavorful, they only required a bit of basil olive oil and a
dusting of Parmesan to make a satisfying meal. The pastas must
be put in boiling water directly from the freezer to keep from
sticking; the whole process took only a few minutes and couldn't
have been easier.
Welcome to the neighborhood, D'Anna's DeliCafé
& Catering
Co.
