Buon Appetito tastes like Sicily
A small, run-down blue house, Buon Appetito is easy to miss amid the fast food and convenience store menagerie lining West Holcombe. Inside the charming sanctum, the neon jungle outside seems worlds away.
A man played guitar and sang Italian love songs. A three-foot replica of Michelangelo's David watched the diners, and antique plates and advertisements for San Pelligrino and Costinas Coffee adorned the wall.
Buon Appetito's menu presents many choices -- pasta, pisci, vittedu, jaddina -- a dozen intriguing entrees under each gastric genre. We made our final decisions over an order of the daily special appetizer ($9.95), an appealing composite of ricotta-filled conchiglie shell pasta, stuffed mushrooms and prosciutto-wrapped eggplant. Buon Appetito's chefs don't suffer from a heavy hand.
Before the main courses arrived, Buon Appetito presented two disappointments -- one minor, the other more significant. Lifeless romaine lettuce in the dinner salads didn't compare to the other top-quality ingredients, but the chunks of fresh tomato, cucumber, red onion, pungent olives and pimento almost made up for the lackluster lettuce. The creamy, garlicky dressing and light peppering of parmesan also came close to compensating.
The garlic bread was harder to forgive. Expecting hearty, rustic bread, we found the crunchy nuggets a letdown. A too-liberal sprinkling of garlic and parsley marred the greasy slices. We faced oversized white croutons.
But the abundant entrees obscured bad memories and inspired devotion. Freshness and rustic wholesomeness emanated from the unpretentious food. The baked pastas, Pasticciu di Lasagna and Cannelloni `a Catanisi, offered two charming variations on an impressive theme. The substantial hunk of lasagna layered pasta, meat, tomatoes, bescamel, ricotta and mozzarella in perfect proportions. The cannelloni's two pasta tubes achieved an ideal balance of ingredients. The O'Limuni was another gastric triumph. Two thin slices of veal were bathed lightly in a sauce of lemon, butter, wine and garlic. No one ingredient cried out for attention; the simple mixture created a fine backdrop for the deliriously tender meat.
Punctuated with olives, capers, tomatoes and spicy red peppers, the inspiring Linguini Arribbiata embodied the perfect combination of subtlety and assertiveness. I think I'm in love. The al dente pasta, coated in a light olive oil sauce, supported chunky vegetables and a gentle dusting of parmesan. Literally, Arribbiata means "angry;" this comforting bowl of linguini hardly seemed aggressive. Neither did it merit the menu's warning that it is "spicy!," but the red pepper definitely gave it enough flavor to win my affections.
The copious entrees hardly afforded room for dessert, yet we somehow forced ourselves to tackle dessert. In the tiramisu ($4.00) litmus test, Buon Appetito passed with flying colors.
The delicately decadent blend of cream and cheese covered ladyfingers had enjoyed a generous soak in coffee liqueur. We abandoned decorum and ecstatically scraped the goblet with our spoons.
Regaining our composure, we left the romantic old-world sanctum. The rustic charm and sublime food were hard to leave behind. I hope my friend's love for her boyfriend lasts as long as my rapture in Buon Appetito.
This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the December 1, 1995 issue.
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