raskin

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Power Couple

Danny Raskin

Senior Columnist

Nino and Liz Cutraro

celebrate fi ve years

of Bella Piatti as

they grow their

chain of Wahlburger

restaurants.

Nino Cutraro, Liz Cutraro and
Mark Wahlberg

Having one of the finest res-
taurants in this region means
continued visits from many
former and present customers
who enjoy the wonderful food
prepared and served in celebra-
tion of its five-year anniversary.
The fine Bella Piatti restau-
rant, owned by Nino and Liz
Cutraro, on Townsend Avenue,
across from the Townsend
Hotel in Birmingham, hon-
ors five years of fine Venetian
and other culinary offerings
of Executive Chef Francesco
Apollonia, still a tremendous
choice.
Plus being a huge dining
favorite, Bella Piatti and a
second venture give them big
thrills.
While movie star Mark
Wahlberg was here in 2003
filming his starring role in
Transformers 4, he stayed at
the nearby Townsend Hotel
and regularly ate at Bella Piatti
… enjoying offerings of Chef
Francesco … His numerous
visits also turned into a close
friendship … that resulted in
Nino and Liz also jumping on
the huge Wahlburger chain
bandwagon sweeping the coun-
try and beyond.
To date, Nino and Liz now
also own three Wahlburger
franchises in Detroit, Cleveland
and Cincinnati … with the
opening of a fourth in Taylor,
Mich., April 16 … Number one
was in Greektown, followed by
Cleveland and Cincinnati …
In sight are more Wahlburger

Bella Piatti is celebrating five years.

franchises hopefully by the
end of this year … Talks have
already begun with military
bases and Meijer.
Pretty nice having a film idol
for your partner every time you
open a Wahlburger spot.
Bella Piatti itself has already
become quite known for
its dishes not seen at too
many eateries … Like Chef
Francesco’s big sellers of lobster
tail in a tomato sauce, the pre-
cious gnocchi faragliona with
its Bolognese sauce that says
so much about Venetian delica-
cies, etc. … Even the salads and
something delicious about the
32-ounce porterhouse steak
and 18-ounce bone-in strip
steak or swordfish and so much
more … Venetian dining, too, at
Bella Piatti mixed with oodles
of Italian delicacies have not
gone unnoticed.
Every year seems to get big-
ger and better for this fine
couple with no sign of slowing
them down … Nino and Liz
Cutraro are easily among the
finest couples to be admired.
SO MANY READERS ask
where they can find a good
mom and pop restaurant ...
Where home cooking and per-
sonal attention are prevalent
and smiles galore greet each
diner ... Mom or dad or both
would do the cooking and were
so proud of their cuisine that
they many times would peek
out from the kitchen to look
for smiles on their customers’
faces with every bite. ... Sadly,

they seem destined to fade ...
The children of so many former
mom-and-pops obtain educa-
tions in other fields ... Running
a restaurant was not their bag,
numerous family-oriented and
such operated restaurants went
by the wayside except for per-
haps a precious few.
READER MINI REVIEW ...
From Dennis Silber ... “It’s hard
to imagine French fries and
caviar on the same plate. Well,
imagine no longer because
of a wonderful new restau-
rant here in Boca Raton, Fla.,
called Jimmy’s Fries to Caviar,
Federal Highway near Yamato.
This quaint, very comfy bistro
has become a go-to-place for
Debbie and me. Beginning with
the warm welcome of Twain,
the congenial hostess, and
throughout the art-laden area,
a comfy feeling is balanced
with a menu of varied tastes.
Beginning with starters, the
mussels are sweet and bathed
in white wine, tomato, blue
cheese and bacon or Heirloom
tomatoes with mozzarella and
basil with aged balsamic. The
specialty of Fries & Caviar,
served in a jenga-style stack,
are interspersed with salmon
and trout caviar, fresh dill and
crème fraiche and served as
a sharing plate for the table.
Entrees fall into three catego-
ries. From the pasta menu, we
enjoy the chicken parmesan
with homemade fettuccini. Our
land favorite is crispy roasted
half duck with raspberry sweet

chile glaze. From the sea, pan-
seared salmon served with
generous crab pieces or the
pan-seared scallops with cham-
pagne vinaigrette. Desserts are
generous, creative and difficult
to refuse, banana cream pie,
zabaglione with berries infused
with champagne and tiramisu.
Fries to Caviar is especially
informal and priced moder-
ately.”
OLDIE BUT GOODIE
... Harry appeared before
Heavenly Court at the pearly
gates. “What have you done to
merit entering Heaven? We do
not see anything special in our
books?”
“Well, I can think of one
thing,” he said. “On a trip to
the Black Hills, I came upon a
gang of tough-looking bikers
who were threatening a young
woman. I told them to leave her
alone, but they wouldn’t listen.
So I approached the largest and
most heavily tattooed biker
and smacked him on the head,
kicked his bike over, ripped out
his nose ring and threw it on
the ground. I yelled, ‘Now, back
off or you’ll answer to me!’”
The angels were impressed
and asked, “When did this hap-
pen?”
“Just a couple of minutes
ago.”
CONGRATS ... To Don Cohen
on his birthday ... To Elizabeth
Applebaum on her birthday. •

Danny’s email address is
dannyraskin2132@gmail.com.

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April 5 • 2018

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