New Local Italian Restaurant: The Albero Cafe

Last week I decided to go to lunch at a new restaurant in East Wichita called the Albero Cafe. Its located at 4811 East Central Avenue which is on the corner of Oliver and Central. It just recently opened and I have seen it every day on my drive to work.  It has been on the list to try and Friday was the day. I should have gone earlier.  Wow...it's good.

First a little info....meet the owner Hassan Ballout

Mr. Ballout has a little over a decade of food service experience.  He has worked for the Hyatt Regency, Latour Management, and for the past 10 years at Bella Luna Cafe.  His dream was to run and own his own restaurant.  He has made the switch to Italian food because it is his passion and I am glad he did.  So, if you didn't know...Albero Cafe is Italian food.  So, lets get to it.  Here was my lunch last Friday.

I started off with the Blueberry Pomegranate Tea.  It was a great mixture of the two fruits.  It was the perfect kind of sweet, yet not too sweet.

I ordered the Hungry Jeff.  They might as well call it the hungry Jake.  I devoured this thing.  The Hungry Jeff is filled with Italian meats, provolone, lettuce, tomato and a great Italian spread. The bread was super fresh.   The chips at Albero Cafe are homemade.  My litmus test for homemade chips is their crispiness.  These chips had no sogginess and they were not too oily.  "Yum" is what I say

Of course I food stalked other people.  Here is what nice lady at the next table had for lunch.  

The Chicken Saltimbocca and the Garden Veggie were to other sandwiches my waitress recommended. To keep in good standing with my YMCA membership I couldn't try them all but I will soon enough.

There is an entire menu of lunch and dinner entrees waiting to be tried. Albero Cafe is a great lunch place where you will spend $7-$10 for a sandwich or their lunch entrees.  At dinner it gets a tad bit pricier ($9-$12).   Its a great date night place or night out with family and friends.  The dining atmosphere is fun and always full.

If this summer heat will ever die down you might even want to sit outside.

The service is great and you can even watch them preparing your food behind the scenes.

Okay lets get serious....lets talk dessert.

The Italian Cream cake was someone else's desert.  It looked really great and I had to show you,  but I want to tell you about the cannoli.  The Albero Cafe likes to pronounce it "Cane"-oli because it is a little different than a traditional cannoli.  Albero Cafe's cannoli has nuts in the cream cheese.  This is the most decadent cannoli I have ever eaten...and I mean this in a very good way.  It was so good.  Get out and try Albero Cafe.  Its on my list to go to again.  Its places like this that make Wichita a great place to live.