Adolfo's

Adolfo's Restaurant Review:

About the décor: Dimly lit and funky, this neighborhood café, with its checkered tablecloths, cement brick walls and lots of locally produced, colorful art, is perched above a barroom and overlooks the street's nightlife.

Likes: Marinara sauce.
Dislikes: Iffy service.

Food & Drinks: Locals know the place as a bargain, with reliable food, even if owner-chef Adolfo Perez sometimes can be a bit heavy-handed with the salt. The New Orleans-style Italian-influenced menu features such dishes as cannelloni stuffed with local crab meat and cream sauce, and oysters with spinach and Pernod. An appetizer of fried eggplant topped with crab meat and capers may be one of the best items available. Seafood is the specialty, so each night the kitchen presents a wide array of fish with a choice of sauces, including the rich, shellfish-studded "ocean sauce." Indeed, the real reason to dine here is for what the chef creates with Gulf fish. Most entrées come with a portion of spaghetti in red sauce (a tradition in local Creole/Italian restaurants). Desserts are lackluster but the cheesecake is respectable. The wine list is limited to fewer than a dozen varieties. Service is perfunctory --- on a good night; but even so, this can still be a very decent stop for dinner.