Cafe Nuovo

Frommer's Review

This spacious room of glass, marble, and burnished wood occupies part of the ground floor of a downtown office tower that overlooks the confluence of the Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket rivers. Unlike its local competitor, Al Forno, which gets the greater share of praise and ink (largely undeserved), Cafe Nuovo takes reservations, is open for lunch and dinner, and impresses with every course, from dazzling appetizers to stunning pastries. The fare is grounded in the Italian repertoire, but skips lightly among other inspirations, too -- Thai, Greek, and Portuguese among them. That culinary restlessness leads to such dishes as the appetizer of fried calamari and popcorn shrimp with hot cherry peppers and tartar sauce and the entree of lamb two ways involving rack of lamb crusted with goat cheese and almonds and Moroccan lamb tagine. There's music on weekends and outdoor dining in warm weather. Restaurants come and go, but Café Nuovo endures, steady and embracing.

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