We Revisit and Review Avanzare Italian Dining

After 22 years in business and counting, Avanzare Italian Dining is a name synonymous with Springfield Italian food. But although I’ve lived here my entire life and have covered local food news for more than half a decade, I was an Avanzare virgin up until recently. Shocking, I know.

I did get a chance to visit the old location on Glenstone when I interviewed owner Tony Garcia for a previous story. After dining in the new sprawling space at 3240 S. Fremont Ave., which can accommodate 250–300 guests, it was hard to imagine how they were managing in the old location that could only seat 100 people max. It was a full house the night I visited, and there was a lively, excited energy all throughout.

The spacious entrance alone makes a grand first impression with a large glass chandelier hanging high, while on the right, there’s a beautiful fireplace with a mosaic tile design above. There are multiple seating areas to choose from: a dining room hidden behind the wine cellar perfect for private parties, the main dining room located on the east side, the back bar area and the covered patio.

It was a beautiful evening the night of our visit, so my husband, Chandler, and I decided to enjoy our meal on the patio. We kicked it off with fried calamari and bruschetta. Out of the two appetizers, the bruschetta was our favorite. The bread was easy to bite into, and the tomatoes tasted super ripe despite it not being peak tomato season yet. As for the fried calamari, the dish really came alive when we added the squeezed lemon on top.

Although Avanzare’s location is new, the quality offerings, prices and portion sizes remain the same. I ordered the Melanzane Alla Parmigiana, which was an eggplant Parmesan dish. Despite it consisting of primarily good-for-you vegetables, it still tasted like a decadent pasta meal with its spaghetti noodles and a generous helping of tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. The eggplant was lightly breaded and pan-fried, and the inside was perfectly tender. Chandler ordered the Pollo Salata, a pan-seared chicken breast paired with fresh ingredients like artichoke hearts, mushrooms and kalamata olives all doused in a butter sauce. I asked him for some tasting notes, and he delivered. He said that the sauce was “thick and creamy, and was enhanced by the brine in the Kalamata olives” and the chicken was “pull apart tender.” Honestly, sometimes I wonder if he’s coming for my job.

To cap off the perfect meal, we ordered the Fondonte. If you love brownies in the center of the baking pan more than the corners, this gooey flourless chocolate cake is for you. The side of vanilla ice cream balanced out the richness of the cake, and I was definitely sad when I had no room left to finish it. To me, that’s the sign of a good meal.

Review originally published in August 2019 written by Claire Porter

If you worked in the Louvre and walked past the Mona Lisa every day, would her beauty become commonplace to you? If you lived in Seattle, would the majesty of Mount Rainier looming over your daily commute eventually cease to take your breath away? When we are surrounded by steadfast, awe-inspiring things, we can become blind to the wonder they inspire. So it pays to take a moment every now and then to stop and gaze in admiration at a hand-painted smile or to stand humbled before a towering summit—or, as I discovered recently, to sit swooning before a plate of short rib ravioli.

Springfield’s own Avanzare Italian Dining has been part of our fine-dining landscape for just over 15 years, and in that time it’s been unwavering in its commitment to providing attentive service and creating dishes that are at once comforting and exciting. But, as many diners have experienced, we’ve been pulled away throughout the years by the siren call of new restaurants opening up, food trucks arriving and drink concepts tantalizing our taste buds. When we heard that Chef Tony Garcia added a few new menu items, we realized we needed to pay a visit to Avanzare to be able to appreciate what had been before us all this time.

Over the years, the menu at Avanzare has remained predominately the same, filled with classic Italian dishes, premium cuts of beef, fresh seafood and signature pastas. But a few new plates have made an appearance, including the pollo saltimbocca, which consists of tender chicken breast sauteed in a light and citrusy lemon glaze and served atop a mound of savory mashed potatoes along with sauteed vegetables. In the mood to sample a few of Chef Garcia’s handmade pastas, we sampled the crab cake ravioli starter and the short rib ravioli entree. The creamy crab cake ravioli were stuffed with a smooth, rich crab filling and tossed in a cream sauce, all of which was served on a bed of field greens. The light acidity of the salad cut through the rich sauce and also kept us from indulging in too much of the wonderfully herbaceous basil butter served along with the bread basket.

The short rib ravioli dish was far and away the star of the show. The ravioli were plump with tender, juicy short rib filling, and to each piece of pasta clung savory Marsala cream sauce that incorporated a hint of mushroom-y earthiness. It’s a plate that reminds you of the beautiful things you’ve taken for granted, and to fully appreciate it, sometimes you just need to close your eyes, breathe deeply and inhale the smell of ancient oil paintings, crisp mountain air or a perfectly done Marsala sauce.