by Mystery MouthMulberry Street, between Broome and Canal streets, is the heart of New York City’s Little Italy.
Scranton might not have its own Little Italy section, but its Mulberry Street is home to a restaurant that might as well have been plucked from that very New York neighborhood: Caf� Classico.
The scent of Italian cooking engulfed my dining companion Fabrizio and I as soon as we walked in, enticing our appetites and making us feel right at home.
The substantial menu boasts more than you’d even expect from an Italian restaurant. There are so many hot and cold antipasti (from mozzarella alla Caprese for $8.50 to zuppa di clams for $10.95), pizza, calzone, stromboli, subs and pitas and an endless array of pollo (chicken), pesce (fish), vitello (veal) and pasta entr�es to choose from, it’s almost exhausting trying to make a decision. (And the Mouth wouldn’t have it any other way.)
Since I insisted upon have dessert from the get-go, Fabrizio and I decided to forgo antipasti. He was leaning toward a fish dish, like shrimp Quattro Stagione, with artichokes, roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and eggplant ($22.95) but ultimately decided to go with mussels in red sauce ($17.95).
After much thought, I was sold on the chicken piccata, a lemony dish in wine sauce with capers for $17.95, until I saw the veal version ($19.95) and snapped my menu shut.
After ordering, our server Abby delivered warm fresh-baked bread with olive oil and vinegar, which Fabrizio and I went to town on. Our included salads arrived soon after, featuring mixed greens, cucumber, grape tomatoes, carrots and big, black olives that were so much better than the canned ones the Mouth uses at home. We both opted for oil-based house dressing instead of Caesar.
(Caf� Classico also offers blue cheese or gorgonzola dressing for extra. When we spied a neighboring table get the gorgonzola salad, we regretted not following suit because it featured a huge slab of the cheese over the greens. Note to self for next time.)
After we finished our salads, Fabrizio and I tried to follow along with the Italian news playing on the flatscreen TV behind us as we waited for our entrees to appear.
Before long, they arrived, piping hot — so much so they actually had steam rising from them as Abby put them before us.
Fabrizio had at least 20 mussels in shells over a mountain of linguine. The chunky red sauce was rich, but not too sweet, and the mussels were meaty with that wonderful taste-of-the-sea essence to them. He was so enamored with his dinner that he couldn’t help using a shell or two to scoop up the sauce (only splattering himself once) and cleaning the entire plate. The Mouth was quite impressed. And I must say that I love that Fabrizio was given a side dish for his shells — something so trivial that I’ve seen many restaurants overlook.
My veal piccata was magnificent, giving four tender cutlets under a healthy amount of tasty capers. The sauce was delicately lemony and not too garlicky or oily. It was the most succulent dish I’ve had in a very long time. Its accompanying side of pasta had a delicious sweet marinara lightly dusted with parmesan cheese.
Despite our almost maximum-capacity stomachs, there was that matter of dessert. Our choices included creamsicle cheesecake, berry torte, cream puff topped with chocolate mousse or almond or regular tiramisu. Having as flavorful dinners as we did, naturally, our only option was the cream puff and chocolate mousse ($5.95).
The two puffs were buried under a heaping dose of fluffy mousse and flanked by two dollops of whipped cream. It was exquisitely rich and luscious.
With rustic brick walls with portals filled with wine bottles and the soft Italian music playing in the background, Caf� Classico was an Italian experience like no other. The smells are so comforting, the portions are so generous and the service is so efficient, friendly and attentive, you feel as if you’re dining in someone’s home.
The Mouth has nothing more to say except that dining here was squisito eccellente.
• Caf� Classico
1416 Mulberry St., Scranton
570.346.9306
www.menusnepa.com/cafeclassico
Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m.
Friday 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m.
Saturday 12-11:30 p.m.
Sunday 1-1- p.m.
All major credit cards accepted.
