A stylish setting with food to match; Cucci
The look: New and stylish
The feel: Rich and relaxed
What you’ll pay: Salads include caesar with polenta croutons and anchovy caperberry dressing for $12 and insalata di radicchio, grilled radicchio stuffed with goat’s cheese, greens, pear and toasted walnuts for $14. Antipasti items range from zuppa di cozze, mussels steamed in Cinzano with sweet sausage and Thai seasoning for $14 to crocche di bacala alla Siciliana at $12 (that’s Yukon gold potato and salt cod croquettes with a caperberry tomato sauce). Pasta dishes include cannelloni al funghi, tubes filled with slow-roasted porcini, shiitake and crimini mushrooms, for $16 and spaghetti alla pescatore, featuring tiger shrimp, mussels, monkfish, calamari and clams, for $24. Mains include bistecca, grilled New York strip loin steak with grilled porcini mushrooms and vegetables, for $35, and rombo al forno al taroco, baked Alaskan halibut on a shrimp risotto cake for $34.
Hours: Dinner is served from 5 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday. Wheelchair accessible. Reservations recommended.
Cucci is not in the downtown cluster of eateries, but west in Bronte across from a shopping plaza, but only two blocks to the lakeside park. The restaurant is upscale with a comfortable blend of fieldstone, wood and understated colours in two dining areas, a fireplace and an eight-seat bar. A pianist plays a mellow background.
