Our puttanesca featured Gaeta (from the region near Itri) and Sicilian olives, plus plenty of anchovies, capers, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil. The table grew very quiet, as we all tucked into our food with great satisfaction.
The next courses were a seafood special — halibut piccata ($18.95) for us — and a menu favorite, chicken piccata ($16.95), for them. Can you tell how much we all love butter, white wine, and lemon, the basis for the sauce on both dishes? The latter entree had prosciutto, capers, and black olives, and it was accompanied by garlic mashed potatoes and grilled eggplant, zucchini, and sweet red and green peppers.
Ours was served with a wonderful risotto, packed with colorful bits of vegetables, including both white and red onions, carrots, celery, and sweet red pepper. The halibut was roasted just right, and it was more than we could finish after the generous salad and the puttanesca. So we packed up half of each entrée and began to consider dessert.
Again, the decisions were difficult. House-made desserts included the tiramisu, crème brûlée, lemon torte, chocolate mousse cake, cheesecake, cannoli, and spumoni. The spumoni came highly recommended, and it was worth every bite: chocolate, vanilla, and pistachio ice cream (made in-house) which is blended with run-soaked raisins, pistachios, chocolate chunks, and pistachios. It was amazing. But so were the chocolate-dipped cannoli with whipped ricotta inside.
Caffé Itri’s wine list is first-rate, with several whites and reds by the glass, and the mixed drinks were more than generous. Did that add to the good times had by all four of us? Or was it our waiter? Or was it just all that good food? We left there, still beaming.
Johnette Rodriguez can be reached atjohnette.rodriguez@cox.net.
