Sunday evening we felt like going out for a bite to eat. Didn’t want to go to the same old haunts and wanted to experiment. Decided to go to Berkeley/Oakland’s College Avenue. Walked up and down and stopped at what looked like a hole-in-the-wall. The young girl sitting outside invited us in, and swore that the food is great. A customer who was waiting for his party agreed. So we went in, and were promptly seated. Perfect timing! Less than two minutes later, there was a loooonnnnnggggg line of people outside. Hmm...obviously a popular place to eat.

We’ve never been to this place. Didn’t know what to expect

The place is small and can probably accommodate only about 60 people. Very narrow place, with more seating in the second floor. The staff was busy, busy, busy but super-friendly.

Shortly after being seated, we were immediately served a basket of bread and dippling oil. We were immediately hooked. Don’t know what they had in the oil --- saw garlic, parsley, rosemary, maybe some red pepper flakes and salt. Thought if our intro to this restaurant was this good, then that it is a good sign.

Specials for the night.

There were two specials that night, and we ordered them both: lasagna and osso bucco.

Lasagna was scrumptious ---it looked and tasted like it had a combination of béchamel and tomato-based sauce. It ranks, in my opinion, as one of the best I’ve ever had.

The osso bucco was equally good…the meat was so tender and was literally falling off the bone. Happily, it was served with polenta, another favorite.

Room for dessert?

Decided to try their dessert . Wanted both the panna cotta and the tiramisu, but only had room for one. Again, that tiramisu must rank as one of the best ever. It was more like cream and custard.

Gary and I looked at each other. We have been pining for a new favorite restaurant since our previous Oakland favorite, Il Porcellino closed its doors.  And now, we found it!

Our new favorite Italian restaurant

Trattoria La Siciliana  on 2993 College in Berkeley CA --- mentioned in Zagat, rated very favorably on various sites like Yelp, CitySearch, Urban Spoon, Lonely Planet, Trip Advisor, yahoo, etc. Our only regret is that we didn’t know about it sooner. But our biggest joy is that we stumbled upon it like a new discovery.