Italian cuisine

 In pgh.food  I read
 from [email removed] (Jerry82218):

 |I asked a guy I know in Pittsburgh where he goes for good Italian food.  (He
 |studied for several years in Rome.)  His answer:  "My house."  I.e., he didn't
 |think there was any  restaurant in Pgh with good Italian cuisine.  If you think
 |he's wrong, what would YOU recommend?  (I'll be up there next weekend.)

 Davio's/Paulio's are quite good. Reservations required. In the $30
 range as I remember. One has a wine license, the other does not. I
 don't remember which.

 And now for my favorite rant. It seems that the Stern's (or Splendid
 Table and other venues) head about Enricco's and did an interview
 there. They read in some in-flight magazine (as yet unknown) that "if
 you have 3 hours in Pittsburgh, get in a cab and go to Enricco's".
 Just pizza and soup, no wine, wonderful bread and dessert.

 Jerry82218 wrote:

 > I asked a guy I know in Pittsburgh where he goes for good Italian food.  (He
 > studied for several years in Rome.)  His answer:  "My house."  I.e., he didn't
 > think there was any  restaurant in Pgh with good Italian cuisine.  If you think
 > he's wrong, what would YOU recommend?  (I'll be up there next weekend.)

 Most Italian food in Pittsburgh is of two types:
     1. An Americanized version of southern Italian family style food. Ten different
 shapes of pasta in two or three versions (no meat, meat, maybe mushroom, etc.) of
 the same red sauce, made from domestic tomatoes. There will usually be a few
 uninspiring basic white sauces as well. As long as your are expectations are in
 line with this, these restaurants really aren't that bad, and they are very cheap.
 For this type of food any of the restaurants in Bloomfield ( Alexander's, The
 Pleasure Bar, D'amico's) are pretty good.
     2. An upscale version of the former, where second courses ( seafood, veal,
 chicken) are also featured, and garlic reigns supreme. As long as you have no
 aversion to garlic, and are not expecting subtlety, these restaurants can be very
 enjoyable. My favorites in this genre are any of the Papa J's mini empire ( one in
 the south side, one in Carnegie, one Downtown) and Piccolo Piccolo (downtown).

     However, in the last few years, Pittsburgh has gotten a few extremely good
 casual 'authentic' Italian places. Here are my favorites.

  Pizzaioli  (703 Washington Rd Mt Lebanon)

 This is probably our favorite 'every day' restaurant in Pittsburgh. The pizza is
 exactly like pizza I've eaten in Naples. We always order the pizza Napoletana. The
 crust is thin, slightly puffy and pliant, and nicely charred, with a pronounced
 smoky taste. It is topped simply with San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and
 basil. There is a sign out front proclaiming the place Vera Pizza Napoletana. I'm
 not sure this is official, but I see no reason to doubt it since their Pizza
 Napoletana seems to conform to all the standards. ( For those that don't know what
 I'm talking about: There is a group of self-appointed pizza cops emanating from
 Naples that was founded in order to safeguard the Neapolitan pizza tradition.
 Essentially, they inspect pizzeria's and then certify whether they serve authentic
 Neapolitan pizza. This certification is hard to come by here in the U.S. As far as
 I know there is only one other pizzeria here with this designation, La Pizza Fresca
 in Manhattan.)
     Their pasta and antipasto are all uniformly excellent . The service is very
 friendly and efficient, and they have  an extremely attractive courtyard to dine in
 in the summer. An added bonus; they have no liquor license, so you can bring your
 own wine.

 The Grande Canal (in sharpsburg)
     This place is a small ( about ten to twelve table)  trattoria with really silly
 hours (I think they close at 8:30). If you get up early enough in the mourning to
 eat there though, the food is terrific. I particularly like the handmade cannelloni
 stuffed with veal and raisins .Once again, you can byob.

 Girasole (on copeland in shadyside)
     This place just opened. It is apparently run by the old chef from Pizzaioli and
 the food is just as good ( no pizza, but the antipasto and pasta are slightly
 'upscaled' from Pizzaioli) We have eaten there twice in the last week and both
 times were thrilled. Last night I had the pappardella with Lamb ragu. The pasta
 appeared to be hand made, and it was cooked perfectly. The sauce was rich and meaty
 but little saucier than a bolongese ragu. My wife had basil and ricotta ravioli in
 a tomato cream sauce. I'm not a huge fan of ricotta ravioli, but these were very
 good. The setting of this restaurant is very nice, like a slightly subterranean
 cave opening on to Copeland street with a small sub street dining patio. This sort
 of sidewalk cafe setting is not to common in Pittsburgh, when the sun goes down you
 feel like you could be in a small back street in Greenwich Village. Given its
 favorable geography (we live in Friendship which is right next to Shadyside)
 Girasole might just eclipse Pizzaioli as our favorite. byob as well.

 La Cuisine Flagrea ( in Squirrel Hill) Another very small restaurant with dishes
 you don't typically see in Pittsburgh. The pasta with pine nuts, raisins, and
 arugala was very good. However, the wait to get a table can be both long and
 awkward ( there is no adequate place to sit or even stand) and the food can be
 uneven. The roasted cod I had last time was seriously overcooked. Ultimately I'd
 rather save thirty bucks and sample one of Pittsburgh's finest 'Pittsburgh style'
 pizza's a few doors down at either Mineo's or Aiello's. But if you can get a table
 quickly, and you hit a good night, Flagrea can be pretty rewarding. byob yet again.

 Sorry about the length of this post.

 Ralph

 Valozzi's in greensburg.
 Someone wrote:
 ...
 >I asked a guy I know in Pittsburgh where he goes for good Italian food.
 (He
 >studied for several years in Rome.)  His answer:  "My house."  I.e., he
 didn't
 >think there was any  restaurant in Pgh with good Italian cuisine.  If you
 think
 >he's wrong, what would YOU recommend?  (I'll be up there next weekend.)
 >-----------------------------------------------------------
 >-----------------------------------------------------------
 >"HA! That's it!  Hold it right there....  Pronoun trouble."--Daffy Duck.