[eat] Lunch with Liz: Bella Luna
Another one of my favorite Wichita restaurants would have to be Bella Luna. It is among many Mediterranean inspired joints that this city has to offer, with its own unique twist.
In my few years of residing in Wichita, Bella Luna has been a “go-to” place for many occasions. It’s a great place to get together for lunch with co-workers or friends, somewhere to grab an after-work drink special, or even celebrate a special occasion. I recently dined at Bella Luna for lunch and dinner, both equally as good for different reasons.
My lunch date consisted of a going-away lunch for a friend, as well as her belated birthday lunch. We met at the Bradley Fair location around 11:30 to ensure we would have enough time to eat and catch up during our lunch hour. I would definitely recommend going a little bit early to this location and beat the “lunch rush.” You can get in and get settled before everyone else decides that Bella Luna would be a good lunch choice.
There are plenty of choices and smaller options to go for if you’re lunching on the light side. Those of you that have been following my posts from the beginning know that I try to channel Tanya Tandoc and her choices from her favorite ICT restaurants. She said to choose the chicken schwarma at Bella Luna, but my lunch date and I both felt like salads with the inspiration of summer in the air that morning. I opted for the Bella Maggi House Salad, a house salad with artichokes, tomatoes, shaved Parmesan and my particular favorite, pecans. My lunch date went with the Chipotle Caesar Salad, which is basically your standard Caesar salad with romaine and Parmesan. We both added chicken for a just a couple dollars more. If you’ve never had the salads at Bella Luna, beware – they are quite large and end up coming out to you as a mountain of goodness. If you aren’t ready for the full portion, my savvy lunch date taught me that you can ask for a half salad instead.
Then came the dinner outing to Bella Luna. I was glad to be dining on a Monday evening – bottles of wine are half price on Mondays. If you are like me and want to try your wine before diving in for a whole bottle, ask your server for a taste – ours was more than happy to let us sample before ordering a full bottle. If you enjoy planning your calendar around restaurants’ drink specials, martinis are $4 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
What’s any good Mediterranean meal without hummus as an appetizer? I’m a definite fan of Bella Luna’s hummus, served with two different types of pita bread. For dinner, I ended up going with my favorite entree, Chicken Du Chateau. This dish consists of two chicken breasts covered with Swiss cheese in a shitake and portobello mushroom Cabernet sauce. My dinner date ordered the tilipia, an almond- and herb-crusted generous filet with dill sauce. Entrees usually come with a great portion of rice vermicelli and a medley of sauteed vegetables to accompany the main course. After downing a whole platter of hummus and attempting the entree, you’ll most likely have enough to box up and enjoy for lunch the next day.
Bella Luna has three different locations: Bradley Fair, Central near Oliver and New Market Square. The unique twist I truly enjoy about Bella Luna would have to be the testimonials you can find on the walls and menus. You would almost think every person took a calligraphy class with such nice handwriting on these testimonials.
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