Of all the common Italian chicken dishes — parmesan, marsala, piccata among them — my favorite is cacciatore. (The one exception being my later mother’s chicken parmesan, which was in a class by itself.)
When I set out to feature cacciatore this week, I found parmesan, marsala and piccata on nearly every menu, but had to spend copious time searching online to find two restaurants that serve cacciatore. That surprised me. True, there’s no Little Italy around here, but we’re not short on Italian restaurants. It’d be nice to see cacciatore on more bills of fare.
Our two contestants are: BellaBrava, with three locations — St. Pete, Tampa and Land O’ Lakes — and Frankie’s Italian Chophouse in St. Pete.
BELLABRAVA
First, congrats to BellaBrava on its 20th anniversary this year. The restaurant opened on Beach Drive and 2nd Avenue — a block west of the St. Pete Pier — well before the area became busy with locals and tourists seven days a week. That activity proved true on Monday at 6:30. BellaBrava’s dining room steadily filled up during our hour-plus visit.
We were seated at a cozy four-top next to a window looking out on 2nd Ave. It was splitsy night, so we ordered the Misticanza (mixed salad, $13.99) as a starter for Nona’s Chicken Cacciatore ($24.99).
Minor complaint: The entree reached our table when we were about half way through our salad. Followed by a compliment: A plate of fluffy focaccia bread arrived shortly after we settled in — and it was free. A potent oil/garlic dipping sauce punched it up. A lagniappe much appreciated.
Appearance
Taste and Texture
FRANKIE’S ITALIAN CHOPHOUSE
Appearance
Taste and Texture
I paused briefly to formulate a plan of attack — ultimately just plunging in with a knife and fork. I found a bone-in half-chicken and carved it to split with David. He ended up with the thigh and leg, me with the breast. We agreed after eating that it should’ve been the other way around.
Whereas the BellaBrave cacciatore was polite and tidy, this version was random and messy — but not in a bad way. The sea of sauce had a winning sweet tinge, and the extra ingredients enhanced the flavor. My white-meat chicken was moist and tasty. The spaghetti was proved a little hard to get on the fork — buried, as it was, under chicken and sauce.
The house salad consisted of chopped lettuce, a generous amount of cubed ham, pepperoni and cheese, plus slivers of egg and black olives, accompanied by ranch dressing. We scarfed it up.
Alas, no bread.
And the Winner of the What the Cluck?—Chicken Cacciatore Clash Is …
BellaBrava.
The polenta and the boneless thighs — and the focaccia — were the differentiators for me.
It’s quite possible that the next person would prefer the bone-in chicken with the more traditional spaghetti. Both cacciatores were more than worthy. I found BellaBrava’s exemplary.
