One of the best things about living in Costa Mesa is the wide variety of restaurants to eat at.  I had been wanting to check out Vitaly at the Camp for a long , and the Englishman and I finally managed to pop in there for dinner.

Vitaly is a cute Italian cafe tucked away in the back of the Camp and serves Italian flatbread sandwiches (Piadinas), homemade pasta and other Italian specialties.  In my opinion no Italian meal is complete without a glass of wine, so I ordered a glass of pinot grigio with my meal.

The Englishman and I ordered a caprese salad to share and I loved how it came out with just tomatoes and mozzarella, with the balsamic vinegar on the side, so the salad wasn’t overdressed.

It’s still a little early for tomato season, but the ones we had in the caprese salad were nice and crisp and were perfect with the creamy mozzarella.  I can’t wait until summer when I can have all the tomatoes all the time.

The Englishman got the Montetiffi Cassone which is essentially a Piadina sandwich that’s served with warm ingredients rather than cold.

His cassone had housemade sausage, cabbage, balsamic reduction and parmesan.  We both agreed it was quite delicious and could’ve maybe used a tiny bit more cheese.

I went with something a little different and got the Straccetti, which was Filet Mignon strips over roasted potatoes, tomatoes and arugula.

This dish was quite simple but so, so good.  The filet was seasoned perfectly, and any time there are oven roasted potatoes on the menu, chances are I’ll order it.  I think this will definitely become my regular meal at Vitaly.

Of course, no trip to the cafe was complete without some gelato.  Vitaly has a wide range of homemade gelato that comes in a waffle cone, cup, or even a gelato “sandwich.”

I sampled a variety of flavors but the one that won my heart was the mascarpone which came with a delightful cherry on top.

I can already see that Vitaly’s gelato is going to be a summer staple for me.  Most ice cream shops in town use artificial ingredients like corn syrup, but everything at Vitaly is made fresh which I love.

If you live in the OC area and haven’t been to Vitaly at the Camp yet, I definitely recommend checking the cafe out.  In addition to lunch and dinner they also serve breakfast, which I plan to check out next!