Dining In at Casa Turano a Tasty Treat

As you approach  at 455 Broad St. in Bloomfield, you have to make the deciison for pizza or takeout, or whether you'd like to treat yourself to a sit down meal.

Don’t fret. Whatever you choose, you’ll find the food is high quality, modestly priced and well worth the visit.

We visited the restaurant on a recent Saturday night. As the evening progressed, the dining room grew crowded due to the restaurant's popularity.

The menu featured an abundance of appetizers – from bruschetta to clams, from mushroom caps to calamari  – and we thought each one sounded better than the previous.

Two guests chose house salads ($6.95) for appetizers. The salad featured three kinds of lettuce –including a spring mix – along with cucumbers, tomatoes and carrots and was very filling. Casa Turano offers an outstanding balsamic vinaigrette house dressing along with a variety of other dressings.

We also chose the tomato and onion salad with grilled shrimp ($10.95) listed on the special board as another appetizer. The dish arrived beautifully apportioned with an abundance of tomatoes and onions and the shrimp skewered to a long stem of rosemary. It was no wonder why this dish was listed as a special.

The six shrimp were seasoned with pepper and garlic and grilled to a crispy finish. The tomatoes were sweet and juicy, but the dish contained too many onions in our opinion.

For entrées, the menu at Casa Turano offers a variety of dishes. The specials menu complements the main menu with a variety of pasta, chicken and steak dishes.

In a tip of the cap to the chef, the restaurant does not provide any condiments on the table besides salt and olive oil. This means the chef pre-seasons all of the food and doesn’t want any additional seasonings added. And, to his credit, the chef is right and knows what he’s doing.

We tried the New York strip steak special ($24.95) and were not disappointed. We ordered the steak cooked medium rare and it arrived cooked just that way. The steak was perfectly topped with just-the-right-mix of crushed black pepper and garlic seasonings. The dish was also served with an ample portion of broccoli rabe and mashed potatoes.

For another entrée, we ordered the chicken Arabiata ($14.95), a dish featuring two medium-sized chicken breasts topped off with quartered white potatoes and red cherry peppers and green spicy peppers in a spicy brown sauce.

The chicken was tender and well prepared. The sauce, however, was a bit spicy and made it difficult to enjoy without plenty of water to cool off the spices. The dish was accompanied by a bowl of penne pasta.

One person in our group ordered the linguine Bolognese ($13.95) entrée featuring a huge portion of pasta in a red meat/tomato paste sauce. The dish was enjoyed by everyone at our table, although we felt the sauce was a bit too sweet for our tastes.

Our final entrée was the chicken parmigiana ($13.95) served with penne pasta. It featured two large pieces of breaded chicken breast covered in mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. Though this dish is pretty standard fare many Italian restaurants, Casa Turano's version exceeded the level of most.

No meal at this restaurant would be complete without dessert. Don’t skip dessert here.

Although the menu did not list dessert, there were several offerings including peanut butter chocolate cake, tiramisu, chocolate mousse cake, raspberry and plain New York cheesecake.

The chocolate mousse cake ($6.50) was an airy, light chocolate mousse atop a chocolate cake on a cake plate surrounded with drizzled chocolate sauce. The cake is sweet, yet not overly so. Don’t let this one pass.

The raspberry New York cheesecake ($6.50) was a bit of a disappointment. The cake arrived looking like an epicurean delight. However, as we took our first taste, we realized the cake was frozen. Our anticipation about the cake was quickly dampened by this discovery.

Other things to note:

 ■ Parking at the restaurant was difficult. Street parking is limited to two hours and we kept checking our watches. There is also metered parking. Don't park in the lot next to the restaurant. It is not owned by the restaurant and you may get a ticket if you park there.

■ The Frank Sinatra music playing over the speaker system kept cutting out and was distracting after a while. The restaurant also features a large-screen television tuned into the Food Network.

■ There is one clean and colorful unisex bathroom in the restaurant, with a décor that features an eclectic array of statues, paintings and knick knacks.

■ Dining is also available in an atrium at the back of the restaurant. The view from the atrium features a glassed-in area with a view of the trees and a moving stream with ducks in it. There is also outdoor seating (weather permitting) available.

■ The restaurant has a liquor license.

Casa Turano
455 Broad St.
Bloomfield
(973) 748-6834

Monday-Saturday: 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
Sunday:               12 p.m.-10 p.m.
Credit cards accepted
Reservations accepted