Morning Fav

Restaurant: La Collina

Last night I took Mr. George out for his birthday dinner to one of our favorite restaurants, La Collina. My parents have been going there for years and every once in a while I've been lucky enough to get an invitation to join them. When I was younger it was "the place where Ms. Justine sang jazz in the bar". As I got older it became "the place where the nice older man came to talk to you, the people knew my parents name (and they new theirs), and I could get a small pasta sample for an appetizer... cool can I come?". And now hopefully it will become a place of tradition.

It's a small to medium size restaurant on the top of a hill right near Manayunk (you can see it from 76). The cuisine of choice is Italian, which I am not usually a huge fan (as pasta, cream, and veal don't really sit too well in my stomach), BUT the way they run the restaurant you can pretty much have what you want within reason and there's no judgment. Like our meal last night. We had the lobster ravioli as an app, ordered the wedge salad (that wasn't even on the menu), and then Kyle got the veal special and I got the Langostinos app as my meal. Everything we shared they doubled and don't overcharge.We didn't even have to look at the wine menu, told them want we wanted, within reason, and they brought the perfect match! We ended the night with strawberries and whip, Kyle had a yummy glass of port, and a wonderful conversation with the owner!

They're very attentive (NOT in an overbearing way) and make sure you're happy and do a damn good job of making you feel special.. and after all that's what matters most, right? The owner and maître d', the waiters, and even the bus man know who we are.. always "Mike Miles' daughter", which is A-O-K with me! But that's why we like it. The food is definitely great, but it's more of the extraordinary service.