Basilio restaurant relocated from Basilio Badillo St. to their brand new location beneath La Comer in Fluvial, and they opened for business just two days ago. Being so close to home, and in need for a few groceries it was easy to put together a quick outing to give it a go with a couple friends.

Offering restaurant service noon to 11 PM (bar service until midnight), the new Basilio features a mostly Italian menu with a large number of fairly priced appetizers. Then there are salads and paninis, and a few intriguing main courses, such as Pork Ribs with Tamarind Gravy. A choose-your-own-pasta setup allows for a choice of penne, fusilli, fettuccini or spaghetti with either alfredo, arrabbiata, carbonara, pomodoro or bolognese sauce. Chicken or shrimp can be added.

The open kitchen allows a glimpse at a large brick oven pizza in the back, used to prepare 19 different types of pizza available on the menu. Pizzas are large enough for two to share, or small enough for one with a big appetite.

Clearly, the owners hope the new Basilio will become a popular evening watering ground, given the fact that they dedicated three pages of their seven-page menu to beverages and cocktails. There are a dozen martinis to choose from and a similar number of rum- and tequila-based cocktails along with gin- and vodka-based offerings.

Their Pacifico beer (my benchmark) is fairly priced at $35 pesos per. Wine lovers can enjoy a choice of 17 reds and 10 whites by the bottle, or two reds (Cabernet, Malbec) and one white (Sauvignon Blanc) by the glass at $75 pesos per.

For my first adventure at Basilio, I chose a Bolognese pasta that was beautifully prepared and presented, and of a large enough portion for me to not even feel like having dessert afterwards. Not bad at all for $145 pesos!

Considering Basilio and a handful of restaurants at the new Plaza Parota and Bocados Arte y Sabor nearby, not to mention a couple others within a three-block radius, the intersection of Francisco Villa Ave. and Los Tules Ave. is quickly becoming another must try spot for those of us living in the surrounding colonias: Fluvial, Versalles, Gaviotas and so forth. And how fun to do your groceries and the celebrate the accomplishment with a nosh and a glass of red!