Sublime Surprises

Written By: Luke Osteen | Issue: 2016/05 - May | Photograph By: Marjorie Christiansen Photography

When I got the assignment to visit Bella’s Junction Café I was pole-axed.

I’ve lived here for decades, I know the shining stars of the Highlands-Cashiers culinary scene, and the out-of-the-way places that are just testing the waters of this most Darwinian community. I’ve witnessed the waxing and waning of places that’ve earned regional, even national, reputations. I’ve seen the flowering of bistros packed with charm and talent and sheer hutzpah.

But Bella’s Junction Café? I had to check the ad in the current issue of Laurel to see where it was. 

Scaly Mountain? OK, but not even the part of Scaly that I knew, that everyone knows. This place is next to the big old Sinclair Oil sign, close to the Georgia border.  I’d driven past it approximately four million times, without actually noticing. 

In fact, rather than looking for an actual Bella’s sign, or GPS’ing it using the address found in Laurel, just look for the Sinclair sign.   

Squat, bunker-like, the place doesn’t look like much from the outside. 

But, oh, the sublime surprises that await its customers. 

I arrived with a party of seven. Normally, I’m part of a couple or, at most, a three-top. That works for most of the restaurants in the area, which tend to cultivate intimate conversation and the careful sampling of their dishes, bordering on the precious and pretentious.

Bella’s is an entirely different experience. It invites, encourages, lively talk and the joyful sharing of bites. Look, this is a place with a menu that boasts No, We Are Not Married Antipasto Salad and Lil’ Billy Willy Pork Tenderloin. How on earth can you not enjoy a measure of levity with that?   

But it wouldn’t be fun if the kitchen couldn’t deliver. Chef Billy Ezechel, who earned his chops in the kitchen of the legendary, lamented, Nick’s in Highlands, retains everything that he brought to that wonderful institution. 

Here are some of the things we ordered – appetizers of Fresh Mozza-Bella Cheese (fresh mozzarella paired with fresh tomatoes and fresh basil and drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette); Sausage Bread (a wondrous creation of fresh-baked bread stuffed with Italian sausage, sautéed onion and fresh garlic); and entrees of Lobster Ravioli (handmade ravioli stuffed with lobster and seasoned ricotta cheese topped with creamy pink vodka sauce), the aforementioned Lil’ Billy Willy Pork Tenderloin (a tender cut transformed with a Coca-Cola marinade and raspberry demi-glaze); Lasagna (pasta made with care and layered with seasoned ground beef, parmesan, ricotta, and mozzarella cheeses), and Flounder stuffed with crabmeat (a dish that’ll play to the cherished memories of the throngs who made Nick’s a Highlands institution). 

Every one of them, every one, was a marvelous surprise and everything at our table was shared. 

It all made for a memorably happy table, punctuated with exquisite homemade desserts crafted by Billy’s partner, the supremely talented Gloria Carapazza.

I’ve been reviewing restaurants here for over three years and Bella’s Junction Café is the first one I’m claiming as a discovery. This place deserves to be known far beyond the confines of Scaly Mountain. 

It serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. You don’t need reservations (yet), but I’m guessing that’s going to change. Call (828) 526-0803.

 You’d be wise to save room for dessert.