Pasadena Restaurant Guide

Ahh, that smell! Wood smoke, garlic, melted cheese. Your mouth starts watering and your thoughts take you back to that small New York pizzeria you simply must visit when you go back to "the city." Walk into Pasadena's Bella's Gourmet Pizza and for a moment, you'll think you're suddenly back in the Big Apple.

Funny, that's just the feel they're going for! Bella's serves traditional New York style thin crust pizza, but for those that get a hankering for a true Chicago deep dish, they've got that, too - along with an impressive salad selection, garlic bread, appetizers and fresh pasta dishes.

To start, we noshed on some awesome meatballs that Bella's serves in an appetizer portion covered with thick sauce and mucho cheese. Meaty and moist with notes of garlic and spice, these are cooked in the pizza oven, lending them an almost grilled taste. The topping sauce is Bella's signature pizza sauce: spicy-sweet with big tomato flavors. Add plenty of gooey melted cheese and a side of Michael's herb garlic rolls (so you can be sure to sop all that luscious sauce) and you're off to a very tasty start.

A hand-made foil bowl contained our next dish, Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken and broccoli. Traditional Alfredo generally has so much butter and cream it makes you feel a heart attack coming on. Bella's version is very flavorful, really cheesy and not bashful about it. The pasta was also cooked in the pizza oven so the pieces next to the foil had browned, giving an overall crunchiness and smokiness to the dish. The kitchen didn't skimp on the broccoli and chicken, either; this too came with herb garlic rolls.