Chinabites

Posted: Mar. 14, 2009

Last night I had dinner outside of my usual stomping grounds with a local friend who wanted to celebrate the end of the week. He had been eager to try a new Italian restaurant that opened recently near his neighborhood, Café Roma.

The menu was slightly more upscale than the restaurants I've been patronizing of late. After sagely perusing the menu, I was thrilled to be able to ask the waitress to recommend what, in her opinion, was their very cheapest bottle of wine. If nothing else, this meal certainly provided an opportunity to supplement my steady diet of cheap noodles with significantly more expensive nooodles.

The sauce dressing this pasta was nearly identical to the sauce my dad uses to dress my favorite dish of all time: fettuccine alfredo. Particularly similar was the use of salt pork to season the creamy alfredo sauce. My dad's recipe for this sauce was adapted from one of our neighbors, Rosemary Witcombe, who's recipe I can only assume was originally Italian. It makes me wonder whether or not this was a regional Italian (in this case Roman) recipe.

While our main course was a competent but unremarkable sausage pizza, the most enjoyable dish of the evening was a pumpkin salad garnished with raisins and fresh feta cheese.

Café Roma was quite small, but not crowded on the Friday night when we visited. The service was excellent and the cuisine did not disappoint. A bottle of wine doubled the cost of the meal, and seemed a little out of place at such a small sidewalk cafe, but the menu was otherwise very reasonable for the quality of food and environment. If you're in the neighborhood looking for a pleasant Italian meal, Café Roma would be an excellent choice.