Il Piccolo Cafe

Il Piccolo Cafe Restaurant Review:

Since the late 1980s, this neighborhood restaurant has been dishing out crowd-pleasing Italian-American fare --- so crowd-pleasing that the space expanded to accommodate its loyal regulars. The food is flavorful, affordable, and served in prodigious portions. To give you an idea of just how big servings are, elaborate meal-size salads like a non-traditional Niçoise, containing tuna and eggs as well as a beefed-up assortment of vegetables is listed on the “Snack Menu.” The place does serve some food totally unrelated to Italy --- burgers and sandwiches ranging from chicken or tuna salad to a Cuban that seem intended to merely cast a wider net for neighborhood workers on lunch break. It’s best to stick to specialties, like a particularly savory take on veal piccata, with artichokes supplementing the traditionally more delicate lemony white wine caper sauce. Also satisfying are hefty pastas sauced not sparely as in Italy but generously.