New Italian spot is a welcome addition

Shortly after we arrived, we were presented with a bowl of Italian bread accompanied by a dipping oil. The oil wasn’t just olive oil with crushed pepper sprinkled on top, but rather reddish oils with fresh basil and other herbs that were exceptional. To add a little mystery, the chef would not reveal his secret ingredients but only said it did contain anchovy or pine nuts.

From the appetizer menu we selected melanzane ripieni ($7) and suppli ($7). The melanzane was a manicotti-like dish of ricotta and Romano cheeses, spinach, and egg with marinara sauce, rolled in fried eggplant rather than pasta. We could have made a meal out of the three plump and tender tubes.

Suppli are rice balls stuffed with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, breaded and fried and served with meat sauce on the side. The golden ovals were perfectly crispy on the outside, with cheese oozing out the middle. The meat sauce was not too heavy, just right to bring out the creaminess of this satisfying antipasti.

The house salad ($4) and Greek and Caesar salads ($5) were fresh and crispy, with a great house dressing, and are always served a la carte.

The restaurant divides its dinner menu into Le Paste (pasta), Pasta Fresca (fresh pasta) Secondi (entrée), Grigiliato (grilled), and Pesce (fish) sections.

Under pasta, you can choose spaghetti, linguine, fettucine, cappelini, or penne in a variety of styles and sauces.

How could we not sample the restaurant’s signature dish, pastamore ($14)? It was a melange of garlic, plum tomatoes, artichoke heart, and mozzarella cheese served on a bed of pappardelle pasta. It was quite fresh, with clean flavors and the thick ribbons of pasta cooked just right, but could have used a little more seasoning.

We particularly enjoyed the pappardelle Verona ($17), a bed of fettuccine with shrimp, baby mushrooms, and garlic bathed in what the menu described as a scampi sauce. We were expecting the sauce to be primarily olive oil or butter, as in a traditional scampi sauce, but it was an inspired, bisque-like cream that tasted lightly of shrimp.