La Casa Bella Italian Restaurant

Participated in the May 2009 Taste the World event.

Opened: April 2005 (in this location)

Domenico and Pasqua Sabella, owners
126 N. Prince St.
Lancaster, PA 17603
(717) 509-3620
MTuWTh 10am-9pm, FSa 10am-10pm

To try on your first visit: Pizza. Try the Sicilian pizza, which has a thick crust.

Owners Domenico and Pasqua Sabella draw on their home traditions of Sicily, Italy, to create specialties in this narrow downtown shop. A pot of sauce bubbles on the stove, while pizzas come in and out of the oven. "The pizza is really good," Pasqua says. There's fresh mozzarella available, basil, shrimp, veggies.

But on First Fridays, pizza is not even part of the picture at La Casa Bella. Only full dinners are served on these nights, Domenico Sabella says. Peek through the long hallway and you'll find - tucked away like a secret space - a dining room of seven tables. Here, customers can partake of everything from Sicilian dishes to seafood. "It's really amazing we have such a big request for seafood," Pasqua says.

Pasqua's very favorite food is not on the menu though. In fact, it's such a specialty that she says she doesn't even try to cook it. Lasagna with a Besciamelle cream is a special occasion food, for Easter dinner or Christmas dinner. And it requires just the right touch to make magic of the milk, butter, and flour. "You've got to be really good to make that," she says. "You've got to know how to do it."

To do: Check out the artwork on the walls when you go into the restaurant. Or create your own still life with the foods that are so important to the Italian cuisine served here. Can you draw or paint a fresh tomato, stalks of basil? How about flour or cloves of garlic? What fresh vegetable or fruit in your home can you paint?

written by Marla Pierson Lester; photos by Matthew Lester Photography