Meatballs at TRATTORIA MOLLIE in Montecito, CA

And we're telling you about them on Monday.  Alliteration is our favorite tool.   Today.

On our way up to the wine country of Los Olivios for research on our wine themed TV show-- we know it is hard work-- we stopped in Montecito, CA (about one hour from LA) to have lunch with cousin Andrew Firestone who works in the picturesque perfect town.  He immediately suggested we check out one of Oprah's favorite restaurants, Trattoria Mollie.  Mollie is an Ethiopian chef with an upscale Italian restaurant in Montecito which turns out some delicious culinary delights.  The turkey meatballs are famous according to Andrew, so we ordered them with the fresh spinach pasta which is made daily.  They were a little spicy which was tempered with raisins-- we know, we hate raisins normally but they really work in these meatballs.  They were tender.  They were divine.  They were expensive.  Enjoyed by Oprah and President Obama, who Mollie just cooked for, they made for a decadent lunch for us.  Try them!  

We found the recipe on Oprah's website:

http://www.oprah.com/food/Turkey-Meatball-Polpette-alla-Mollie