(Note: Bel Cibo has unfortunately closed.)
We’ve been to Bel Cibo a few times now, including at their reopened, post-fire location across from City Hall on Jay Street. I think I’ve tasted enough to write a worthwhile, coherent review.
Obviously panini are a big item for Bel Cibo, they feature prominently on the lunch menu along with salads and wraps. The whole menu is a sort of mix of fresh/wholesome and decadent that generally works. Take the bacon, gouda, and pear panino I had. It also had garlic mayo. On fresh, huge, wheat bread, the bacon and slightly garlicky mayo offset the crisp pear and tasty gouda. It was pretty good overall. I’m not sure I’d get it again but it was tasty. The pear, presumably bosc as the brown skin was left on, was sliced thin and layered on the sandwich with a decent amount of cheese and bacon. Unfortunately I’m not a big fan of bosc pears, these were too crisp and dominated both in texture and flavor. The bacon, weirdly, had little flavor, even when tasted alone. Again, it was tasty and fine, but not my favorite…there are plenty of others I’d like to try. It came with chips and two thick, round slices of dill pickle. Yummy unsweetened iced tea was less than $2, which was a nice change from a lot of places.
On another visit, lunch for me was the soup and half panino where I opted for the panino of the day, which I think was chicken, bacon, mozzarella…maybe an aioli or flavored mayo…delicious. The soup was a marvelous, cheesy, creamy buffalo chicken soup. My mouth wanted to eat it every day, my belt wouldn’t thank me for it, though. Even the cold pasta salad, which I usually hate, was good enough that I ate every bit – pasta, light mayo, cucumber, tomatoes… And a couple of crispy dill pickle slices to round off the plate. I ate every scrap.
I keep saying we need to go there more, but they’re not doing many weekend hours, so it’s tough. If you’re in the area, it really is worth a visit.
Eat Up Albany! 