Seeing Il Cantuccio from the outside, you cannot really be sure whether you are about to enter a restaurant or an art gallery.
The restaurant's name is painted in bright colors on the large window on the side, and the building itself is tucked away in a quiet corner of the city, at North 3rd Street and Fairmount Avenue.
But once inside, it is clear where you are.
There are bottles around the window sills, and paintings made to look like Italian frescoes adorn the walls.
And then there was the food.
It starts with bread, either seeded and seedless, which is served with both a pesto spread and a mixed vegetable spread, both of which were excellent.
The appetizer selection covers many different areas, and eventually my guest and I settled on the plate of mixed Italian assorted items ($7 lunch/$8 dinner). They included broccoli rabe, roasted potatoes, asparagus, eggplant, roasted peppers, a vegetable polenta, fresh mozzarella cheese and spinach. The food was delicious, and my only complaint for that dish was that because of the mixture of hot and cold items on the plate, everything was somewhat lukewarm.
For the main course my guest had penne with vodka sauce ($8/$15), which was quite well received. I had penne tossed in a red spicy sauce with capers and olives ($8/$15). In addition to being very good, I was particularly impressed with the fact that the sauce was correctly advertised as spicy.
Dessert was also delectable, as we had cannolis and tiramisu, both homemade.
The rest of the entree menu is typical Italian fare, with other pastas, chicken, fish and steak, all prepared Italian-style. Everything is moderately priced, with all the entrees either 15 or 16 dollars for dinner.
Despite being large enough only to seat about 30 people, and with a very small staff -- only about two people serving and two cooking -- the service was very good, and the staff was very friendly. They are also very accommodating if you want to make substitutions in the dishes, since they make them all when they are ordered.
The three "rules" of the restaurant are printed on the bottom of the menu, and even they are friendly. There is no cheese on seafood, no credit cards are accepted, and Il Cantuccio is BYOB.
All of these little quirks add to the unique atmosphere that Il Cantuccio provides. And the good food only makes it that much better.
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