I heartily recommend "Abruzzi's", on 10th Street in the South Side. This place will renew your interest in Italian food. The menu is diverse without being a "sampler" type restaurant. The spicy dishes are spicy, and everything is very rich. This is a good thing, here. Try any of the calamari dishes -- it is fresh and tender, not like the rubber O-rings you get at many other area restaurants. This is a restaurant that understands that "seafood" means more than shrimp. Fish, scallops, squid ... all of represented here. The sauces for their pasta are tasty and authentic; the spices come through, not just salt and sugar. If you get one of the more substantial sauces, I suggest using penne' as the pasta of your choice. Recommended sauces: fra diavolo (if you've only ever tried Pasta Piatto's, you've never had real fra diavolo. Try this. It is hot). Also, if you are not at all weight conscious, the tomato-cream-vodka sauce is incredible. The dining space is wonderful, too. Very roomy and comfortable. A nice change from the sardine-can atmosphere that forced me to stop patronizing Pasta Piatto. The only drawback to the place, in my opinion, is an understocked and overpriced wine list. Peter Berger System Administrator Telerama Public Access Internet, Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh, PA