A
Matter Of Taste
La Campana Ristorante
107 W. Main Street, Mechanicsburg
766-4217
by Sue Barry
Do you hunger for some of that traditional Southern Italian food? Do you want to go to a casual place that is more comfortable than eating in a simple pizza shop? Do you want to enjoy your favorite glass of wine with dinner and not have to spend a small fortune? Well, meet your friends with bells on — at the restaurant of the bell — La Campana Ristorante in Mechanicsburg.
From the outside, this Italian restaurant is slightly imposing in its downtown location, as the building is a stately former hose house that has had its brick facade littered with letters in bright red flourescent, spelling “La Campana” across the front. Diners enter by walking through the bright but small pizzeria in the back, but once inside the cavernous main dining room, the rustic brick walls, wooden rafters and the many arched windows set the stage for traditional American-Italian dining. Jars of preserved vegetables line interior arched windows that serve as partitions from the kitchen and separate dining rooms. The place is a buzz with flitting waiters and boisterous conversations of patrons.
You are encouraged to BYOB at La Campana and looking around, most diners choose to do so. It is a fitting touch that juice glasses are the vessels given for drinking wine — an element of casual family dining in the motherland.
Anxiously awaiting a good Italian Antipasto ($8.00) of Proscuitto, imported cheese and olives as an appetizer, I was disappointed when I looked at the menu and saw that the item was crossed out. As I found out, the antipasto is not offered on busy nights because of the time it takes to slice the meat and cheese to order — even more of a reason to be disappointed. The permanency of the big black marker line through the antipasto listing on each regular dinner menu did make me wonder, however, if they are always too busy to serve it. I will find out … another less busy time.
I get cravings for Mussels Marinara ($5.95), one such passion I longed for on a recent night. My fantasy was fulfilled as the plentiful appetizer dish arrived loaded with large plump mussels swimming in a full flavored, taste-of-the-sea sauce. The mussels, cooked firm yet tender, not rubbery nor mushy, were the perfect specimen. This was one night I could have just made a meal of Mussels Marinara with good homemade Italian bread to sop up all that flavorful sauce. I have been known to do this on more than one occasion.
That quintessential appetizer that shows up on menus everywhere, from traditional Italian restaurants to New-American and fusion-style restaurants is Fried Calamari ($5.95) and it is a good appetizer to share at La Campana. No fancy twists in dipping sauces here, as a marinara sauce accompanies these agreeable calamari. As a contrast, an appetizer listed as Portabella Mushrooms ($4.95) is a simple lone Portabella draped with melted cheese.
Fresh and hot, homemade football-shaped rolls accompany dinner, and all meals are served with a crisp green lettuce salad. One member of our party asked to hold the tomatoes, when our waiter offered the information that the tomatoes were grape tomatoes (those tiny, oval, highly coveted tomatoes that run flavor circles around any tomatoes in mid-March). The salads arrived with regular tomato wedges — I guess the highly coveted grape tomatoes were coveted too much on this busy night. A blue cheese dressing was a good choice as the house sun-dried tomato dressing lacked luster as did the house Italian dressing.
Some traditional favorite dinners at La Campana are Spaghetti with a decent homemade tomato sauce ($7.95) and topped with meatballs ($9.95), Fettuccine Alfredo ($9.95), Lasagna ($9.25) and Gnocchi ($9.25) with tomato sauce. The typical Eggplant Parmigiana ($9.95) is thick and a bit commonplace but firm nonetheless.
La Campana offers pasta and seafood dishes that swap various ingredients and may be the best offerings in the house for adult tastes. As Fra Diavlo means “of the devil,” or hot, Linguine Fra Diavlo ($14.95) combines a grand showing of shrimp with spicy marinara sauce. The heat in this dish is felt but it is not too intense as to drown out the succulent and meaty jumbo shrimp. Linguini Mare Monte ($16.95), combines that same meaty jumbo shrimp, with scallops, mussels and mushrooms in a conversely delicate white wine sauce. Go out on a limb and order the Linguini Alla Campana adding clams to shrimp, mussels and scallops in red or white sauce. For three dollars more they will throw in lobster tail. Pretend you are in Italy and stay away from using any of that finely grated Parmesan cheese on these seafood pasta dishes, as it truly does not enhance the flavor and it would never be used in Italy as such.
There are conventional dinner entrees such as Chicken ($12.95) or Veal Piccata ($14.95), Chicken ($11.95) or Veal Parmigiana ($13.95) and Chicken ($12.95) or a Veal Scallopini ($14.95), the latter which happened to be a bit lifeless. A side of penne with tomato sauce accompanies these dishes.
Not in the mood for any of this typical American Southern Italian fare tonight? Try the simple but fresh chargrilled Salmon Filet ($13.95), with butter and lemon, instead of a special beef filet. The beef was nowhere up to our specifications on taste or texture. Leave the steak making up to that old steakhouse down the street.
At dessert time, the best choice after all of this abbondanza (abundance) is a lemon or tangerine sherbert served in their respective colossal sized frozen citrus cups. If nothing else will, the clean, refreshing and rejuvenating ice will help you forget that antipasto you so missed earlier in the evening and the hit or miss more common American-Italian dishes.
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