When I first started planning our wedding I knew I wanted really, really good food that would leave people with a smile on their face and full bellies.  Santa Ynez has many wonderful restaurants and caterers to choose from, but as soon as I tasted the food from Trattoria Grappolo last fall I knew I wanted them to cater our wedding.

Trattoria Grappolo is an Italian restaurant that uses fresh, local ingredients from farmers in the area and also offers a wine list that includes many wines from wineries in the Santa Ynez area.  One of my favorite wines that they offer is the Grenache Rose from Foley Wines.

When we were in Santa Ynez a couple of weeks ago finalizing wedding details, we knew we had to pop into Trattoria Grappolo for dinner.  The Englishman and my dad had yet to try the food, and I felt the need to taste it again for “quality control purposes.”

After a day filled with wine and cake tasting, we made our way over to Trattoria Grappolo and immediately dug into their delicious bread and olive oil while we eagerly looked over the menu.

For our appetizer courses, we decided to split the Caprese Salad and the Antipasti Salad.

My mom and I had the caprese the last time we were at Trattoria Grappolo and it was just as good as we remembered.  Slices of mozzarella nestled between tomatoes with a light olive oil drizzle and fresh basil.  Simple, yet perfect.

The Antipasti Salad was out of this world.  I’ve had a lot of antipasti salad in my time, but this one exceeded all expectations.  We were presented with a beautiful dish consisting of fresh grilled calamari, shrimp, roasted vegetables, prosciutto and mozzarella.  Next time I dine at Trattoria Grappolo I just might order this as an entrée.

For our mains, the Englishman and I decided to split the Pollo al Forno, which is chicken roasted with shiitake mushrooms and truffle oil.

Anytime there’s truffle oil on the menu I’m bound to order that dish and this one did not disappoint.  The truffle flavor was nicely balanced without being too overpowering and the root vegetables on the side were a perfect complement.

My dad decided to order the Fagioli con Salsicce, which was Italian sausage over a bed of white cannelinni beans.

The sausage had a nice little spicy kick to it and paired perfectly with the cannelinni beans.  If pasta isn’t your thing, I definitely recommend ordering a dish like this.

My mom kept it simple with Pizza Carciofi which was a thin crust pizza topped with cheese, artichokes and capers.

I’m a firm believer that sometimes simple is better when it comes to pizza, and this one was a perfect example.  The crust was nice and crispy, the artichokes perfectly roasted and the capers added a nice touch of salt.

Of course, no meal is complete without dessert, so we ordered Tiramisu and Spumoni.

For those of you not familiar, spumoni is an Italian ice cream made with three different flavors – cherry, pistachio and chocolate and is delicious.  I’ve mentioned my feelings on tiramisu before, and while it’s not my favorite dessert, this version was very good.

Having dinner at Trattoria Grappolo just reinforced my excitement for having them cater our wedding in May.  And I will say, some of the dishes in this post will be featured on our wedding menu, but we also have a lot of other delicious items coming from Trattoria Grappolo that I can’t wait to share with you after our big day!

But now I leave you with this important question – what is your favorite Italian dessert?