The Italian Cafe

Since Gratzi closed the Italian Cafe on Kuykendahl south of 2920 is the only independent Italian restaurant in the area.  It's been in its unassuming strip mall location since 2009, so now qualifies as a local institution.  I guarantee you'll have a better experience here than Olive Garden faux elegance.  We had a family dinner there and had an excellent meal.

Starting with the bread, which is garlic knots.  These are very light rolls baked crisp on the outside with parmesan and plenty of olive oil--it pools on the plate.  I like plenty of oil on my Italian bread, so I was very happy and inhaled two, but if you don't like so much oil this might put you off.

For an appetizer we had the bruschetta, which was quite delicious.  The combination of tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and olive oil was perfect on the thin-sliced bread.  I almost ruined my dinner on it.

I enjoyed the house salad--all arugula with onion and cherry tomatoes, no cheap iceberg.  The dressing has a bit of a thousand-island look to it but is very Italian and tasty.

We had several fettucini alfredo lovers in our party, and all rated it just fine.  I tried the one with Italian sausage--they say it is spicy, and they mean it.  The warmth really makes the dish.

We had a pepperoni and sausage pizza, and it's one of the best I've had at an Italian restaurant.  The pizza is New York style, with plenty of ingredients but not sloppy.  The pepperoni and sausage were both just perfect--the pizza sausage is not spicy, just pleasantly seasoned.  The crust is crisp but not brittle, with just enough salt to taste it.  A real highlight.

We also had cheese ravioli with the creamy tomato sauce.  The ravioli was done just right and ate well with the sauce.  The sauce itself was nicely savory and a great complement.  Our picky eater got it and was very happy.

Another entree we sampled was the special--short ribs in marinara sauce with penne pasta.  It's not visually appealing but was very tasty.  The pasta was overall cooked well, just slightly uneven but not offensively so.  The beef had great flavor, was just a little chewy across the grain but not bad.  The dish overall was very filling--I got three good meals out of it and was quite happy.

There were a couple of less than perfect items.  There is a healthy option on the menu for those avoiding gluten--a chicken breast with sauteed vegetables.  I can't recommend it.  The chicken was dry and overdone.  Might have been tasty otherwise, but not worth finishing.  It's very difficult to get a plain chicken breast just right, Taste of Texas is about the only place I've been that could do it.

For dessert we had a cannoli.  It was a deep brown and very firm--I had trouble breaking it with the fork.  That said, this is the direction you want to err with a cannoli, it's way better than being chewy or soft.  I enjoyed my crunchy cannoli and finished it all.

The decor is minimal, a few posters to give it that New York Italian feel.  One server does all the work for you, there are no roles.  The place is very tight inside, just like a little New York bistro--you might have to go through the server station to get in and out.  The bathrooms were similarly minimal in decor but clean and ready.  The Italian Cafe caters, and I've heard good things about the food though I have not experienced it myself.  All in all, I would go here rather than Olive Garden any time I wanted the Italian experience.

My Yelp Review