Restaurant Feature: Naturale Cucina

The DELISH Spinach + Ricotta Tarta

AMAZING Pera Pazza Salad

I'm sitting across from my mother at a restaurant in Englishtown as we wait for 2:00PM–a client's lesson time. My mother is on her phone, per usual. Probably just using data to scroll through FB, not actually doing anything of significant value or anything productive. So I pick up my Moleskine journal and pen and start writing about my surroundings...

This restaurant is Naturale Cucina–Natural Kitchen?, a little organic Italian restaurant that just opened up a few months ago. They advertise their pizza, but since we have a full day of riding and being busy on-the-go, (and we still have leftovers from our regular pizza night from the previous night) we ordered salads instead. We ordered the same salads... Like mother, like daughter! We ordered the "pera pazza" with added chicken. We also got a tarta on the side, as neither of us have ever had that we decided to try it. We thought it would be a good idea to share the spinach and ricotta one and after we ate it was amazing! It was the perfect size for splitting in half–not too much or little but just enough (but next time I might one my own.. so good!). It was a perfect pastry with a spinach and ricotta filling–both ingredients I just love. The outside pastry was very nicely crunchy and light, and not at all doughy.

The salads smelled absolutely AMAZING when they were brought out and looked even better! Slices of pear and chicken were spread all over a good size lunch plate, with a sweeter dressing drizzled on top and crumbled gorgonzola pieces. Mmmm so good! Whenever we go out, it is very rare for me to finish my plate, but this time I wiped it clean! Because it was a salad and was so light, it wasn't too heavy for the rest of our busy day. But at the same time, it was big enough to be filling and provide us with energy to last the rest of the day.

The restaurant itself had a nice, clean, and serene atmosphere. Simple. Chic. Elegant. There were customers but because it was a quiet lunch hour we had the front room to ourselves, which provided us with a quiet break from our hectic schedule. The lady who served us was really nice. She was willing to answer all of our questions and all with a beautiful smile on her face. Very friendly. Since I have never had a Tarta but was intrigued by the brief description on the menu I inquired about it and she kindly described it as best she could.

It's kind of funny because the restaurant has probably been open for a few months and we always pass it en route from barn to barn or to the feed store and we always note that we have to try it. So it was quite nice to finally get the chance. We will definitely be going back!

kisses & peppermints,
Rebekka Hov
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