Chloe is headed to Topsail Beach tomorrow for her vacation and Megan, Alex, and I will be headed to Italy next Tuesday so this is our last Dining with Dad before our big trips. Vittoria has been on my calendar for almost 2 months when I saw a recommendation for it and I’m so glad I heard about it. It’s a little bit of a drive up to Powell, but definitely worth it. Wait until you see all the great food Vittoria has to offer.

The weather was beautiful today so I wanted to eat out on the patio. That was the plan going in. As soon as we walked in, Chloe was commenting on how wonderful the inside looked. She was already excited. While it was very nice inside, Alex and I were able to talk her into eating on the patio. Low 70’s on a clear day with no humidity make for a great evening dinner outside. And we had the patio to ourselves until near the end of our meal so that was a bonus. They even pumped a little Italian music outside, just at the right volume to enjoy.

Our server Tim greeted us shortly after we sat down and started looking at the menus. He made our visit a great one by being attentive, yet not pushing us along. He started with our drinks as well as some water. I grabbed some Chianti while the kids grabbed some good summer lemonade! Tim brought us out some hot bread along with a bowl of oil with some herbs mixed in.

The kids were pretty quick to pick out what they wanted. Alex pointed out to Chloe that they had crab cakes on the appetizer menu so she asked if Alex was good with getting those, since he’s allergic. He agreed and so that’s what we got. They were great crab cakes! I was commenting to the kids how they were so good because they were mostly crab, and very little cake. Many places get the proportions backwards. However, since it was so much crab, Alex, even though he only had one bite, started reacting to it. His lips started to swell and burn a little bit. Luckily since both kids have food allergies I had Benadryl in the Jeep so he was able to take that and get it calmed down. For anyone that’s not allergic, get the crab cakes as they were delicious!

I had looked at the menu ahead of time but really wasn’t sure what Chloe would get. Nor Alex for that matter. But I did lean towards the usual for Chloe. When I asked her if she knew what she wanted she said that she was in the mood for spaghetti all day so it was very convenient that we went to Vittoria. Chloe ordered it but forgot to say anything about no cheese. She mentioned it to me and I told her I’d ask Tim to not put any cheese on it and kept forgetting! It eventually came out and sure enough it had cheese on it. Luckily it was shavings which were easily removed for her. It didn’t ruin it at all for her and she loved her meal.

Next up was Alex. Well, actually he interrupted Chloe to order first. We need to work on the etiquette there. He wanted to try something that he had never had, which was something I had never had either. He went bold and went with the rack of lamb. When asked how he wanted it cooked, Tim recommended either Medium-Rare or Medium and Alex went with the Medium-Rare like a good meat eater should! Of course I had to try it so he gave me a little bit of everything, the lamb, the risotto, and the brussel sprouts. They were all delicious. The lamb with the mint pesto was sooooo good! He definitely liked it because he ate all the lamb that was there. I’d try that again for sure.

Last but certainly not least was my meal. I never have liked pork chops because usually made at home they seem so dry. Megan turned me onto them again by trying one at Cap City. It was the best pork chop I’d ever had. That lasted until tonight. There’s a new best pork chop in town and that’s Vittoria. It was so good I made both kids try it and their faces honestly lit up as they tasted it. They were both amazed at how good a pork chop could taste. The entire dish was great and it would be hard to go with something else next time, but they do have lasagna there which is my favorite so I’ll just have to take someone with me that will get the pork chop so I can get the lasagna and we can share! **Cough cough, Megan! Cough cough**

Bonus time! That’s right, they had some delicious sounding desserts so we had to split one. And the kids didn’t have much of a choice because they had seasonal bread pudding on their menu. The seasonal version right now is a Blackberry bread pudding. I’ve had many great bread pudding’s throughout Dining with Dad which you can go back and review. However, Vittoria has one of the best for sure! It may even take the top slot! The picture doesn’t do it justice on how large the portion was. I can’t imagine someone eating this by themselves as it was the size of a half of loaf of bread! It really was huge. The top was crispy while underneath was the typical soft bread pudding. The blackberries were also delicious even though I think I still might have a seed or two in my teeth. If you’ve never had bread pudding and would like to try it, this would definitely be a place to try it. You will NOT be disappointed, I assure you.