Ravioli is one of Italy’s big success stories. All the world over, people eat this iconic stuffed pasta in a wide variety of forms. It is common to find ravioli stuffed with meat, seafood, ricotta, and vegetarian options. At our Bothell Italian restaurant, you can enjoy this classic favorite in the form of our ravioli di funghi, stuffed with wild mushrooms and seasonal mushrooms.

The story of ravioli goes back to medieval Italy. Its name comes from from an Italian word that means “to stuff”, based on the way that the pasta is prepared. The earliest known record of this dish comes from Francesco de Marco, an Italian merchant from the 14th century. In the same century, mention of the dish appeared in English manuscripts, showing that ravioli had made its way throughout Europe early on. Today, it is one of Italy’s best known traditional dishes. Come and enjoy a plate at Amaro Bistro tonight!

Everybody knows lasagna. If you’re a fan of this Italian favorite, you can find it on the dinner menu at our Bothell Italian restaurant. We make our lasagne with veal, lamb, and authentic Italian cheeses imported all the way from Italy. But just how much do you know about this classic pasta dish?

The lasagna recipe we know and love comes to us from the Emilia Romagna region in the north of Italy. Its name is based on the ancient Greek word “lasana”, which means “unleavened bread”. Judging by the earliest known written record of lasagna, the dish dates back at least as far as the thirteenth century. Early versions of the dish did not use the tomatoes that are so quintessentially associated with it today, as the South American fruit hadn’t made its way to Europe yet. Today, however, many different ingredients are used in lasagne, including many varieties of cheeses, meats, and vegetables.

If you’re a fan of tiramisu, then you’ll love Amaro Bistro. Our Bothell Italian restaurant serves up our tiramisu with the delightful bouquet of flavors that you come to expect from this widely-loved dessert. After a meal of quality Italian-style cuisine, finish the evening in style with custard, ladyfingers, and chocolate.

The word “tiramisu” is derived from an Italian term for “pick me up”. The history of the dish is somewhat mysterious, as nobody knows exactly where it originally came from. Some place its invention all the way back in the time of the Renaissance, and some think it took place as recently as 1971. Whenever its inception may have been, it did not appear in cookbooks until the 1980’s, when it was on the rise as the most popular dessert in Europe and the United States. If you’ve never tried this phenomenon, come in for a taste of tiramisu at Amaro Bistro this Valentine’s Day!

Italy is often celebrated for its strong sense of romance, and this sense comes out all the more strongly during the Valentine’s Day celebration. Similar to our own celebrations, this is a time for Italian lovers to dine out and exchange gifts, as well as a big time for popping the big question. Traditionally, it was believed that the first man seen by an unmarried girl on Valentine’s Day would represent the man they would marry within the year; young maidens used to wake up early on the day to people-watch by their windows for this very purpose.

When you’re looking for a place to share Valentine’s Day with your own special someone, consider Amaro Bistro. Our Italian restaurant in Bothell has assembled a special Valentine’s Day menu for the 13th and the 14th, so come and celebrate in proper Italian style!

When you want a proper dessert to follow after a real Italian meal, you can’t go wrong with the classic taste of biscotti at our Italian restaurant in Bothell. Biscotti, or the “twice-baked” cookie, comes in the form of a dry and crunchy biscuit cut into distinctive, diagonal bars. They are often eaten as a dipping cookie, paired with coffee, cappuccino, spumoni, gelato, or even certain Italian dessert wines.

The biscotti first made its way to us across the Atlantic with Christopher Columbus himself. The dry nature of the cookie gives it a shelf life of as much as four months, which made it a great choice for the sailors during an oceanic voyage. It wasn’t widely embraced in the United States until the later years of the twentieth century, when coffee shops arose in popularity. Coffee aficionados took to the dipping cookie, and the rest of the country shortly followed suit. Today, it’s a very popular treat in both Italy and abroad!

If you’ve ever visited Italy, you may have noticed that a lot of what they do at the dining table is not the same what we imagine. Of particular note to many is the way they eat their spaghetti. Indeed, the way that most Americans dine on this famous Italian dish would be poorly received at a real Italian table. With this in mind, should you ever wish to impress your Italian friends at our Bothell Italian restaurant, keep the following spaghetti etiquette in mind:

Firstly, you don’t want to use a spoon to roll your spaghetti. In Italy, this is considered rude. Indeed, rolling your noodles thusly is something done by children who have not yet mastered proper dining. To roll your noodles, hold your fork against the curvature of your plate and spin, taking care to only pick up as much as can be fit in your mouth. If you have to suck up stray noodles after you bite down, you’re doing it wrong.

Second, avoid cutting your noodles. To an Italian chef, this is tantamount to sacrilege. If you’re having trouble limiting the amount of spaghetti that you bring to your mouth, simply roll fewer strands on your fork.

Are you looking for the appetizers on our menu while you wait for your main course at our Italian restaurant in Bothell? If so, check out our selection of antipasti! This Italian word literally translates to “before the meal”, representing the hors d’oeuvre course. In Italy, antipasti come in four different categories: meats, vegetables, olives, and cheese.

Meats: Antipasti meat is usually served cold, and may include sausages, cold cuts, and cured meats.
Vegetables: Antipasti vegetables are generally raw or marinated, most commonly including mushrooms, artichokes, and sun-dried tomatoes.
Olives: Olives are a big enough part of Italian dining to warrant their own category. You will almost always see olives in a real Italian antipasti course. They will often be served either by themselves or stuffed with cheese, nuts, garlic, or peppers.
Cheese: Cheeses are another important part of any antipasti course, usually coming in the form of traditional Italian varieties. Some cheese will be served by itself, but some will be wrapped in meat, stuffed into mushrooms, or occasionally spread onto bread.

One cannot talk about Italian food without talking about pasta. Be it spaghetti, lasagna, linguine, or tortellini, there could hardly be a more iconic part of the country’s cuisine. But where did pasta come from, and how did it become such an important part of the dining experience in Italy?

It is a common belief that Marco Polo was the first to introduce pasta to Italy, having brought it over from China. However, there is evidence that the country had a noodle dish as far back as the first century, AD. This dish was known as “lagane”, and was baked in an oven instead of boiled. Other than this, it apparently resembled the pasta made in Italy today.

The nutritional value and exceptional shelf-life of pasta drove its rise in popularity throughout Italy, and made it a great food for long ocean voyages. It was for this reason that Italian pasta was often among the first dishes that immigrants would share with their new neighbors when they travelled abroad. Today, you can find a rich variety of Italian-style pastas at our Italian restaurant in Bothell, so come and get your pasta fix tonight!