Tavolo

Where Nonna's kitchen meets fabulous warm-fuzzy

By CHRISTINE LIU

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Rating: ***

***** marble banquet

**** glass table

*** wooden counter

** Formica bar

* airplane tray

Although it's pretty much established that consuming market-driven foods—in season, sustainable, local when possible—is a move in the right direction for both the sake of the environment and our health, I do have one very specific, and quite selfish, scruple.

If only Tavolo could continue serving their perfection-in-simplicity Caprese salad ($8)—an unforgettably delicious plate of heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella and basil adorned with pesto and enjoyed during summer's end—which has since woefully but understandably disappeared from the menu. I dare not argue chef de cuisine Maxwell Thompson for Mexican imports or, egads, pink and puffy watery chunks, but rather soberly embrace Tavolo's—and Boston's—move toward a frost-bitten season of heartier vittles. Ah, the end of a summer fling is always bittersweet!

Yet such is nature, and similarly, Tavolo's time and place could not be timelier. Opened in early August, the third eatery by successful restaurateur and Dorchester-resident Chris Douglass stylishly mixes the high (housed on street level of spanking new "The Carruth" condo complex) with the low (progressive or not, it is Dot Ave.) with the trendily comfortable (meatball panini mingling with White Clementine cosmos). With all dishes roughly $16 and under, and a super-extensive availability of Italian wines by the glass, it's a place that'll save a local's day when cooking at home isn't in the cards. And fittingly, Tavolo means "table" in Italian, so pull up a seat and sup. Or, alternatively, kiss Nonna goodbye and run—everything's also available to go.

The menu, printed simply on a double-sided piece of paper (probably the most typographically sophisticated takeout flyer in the city), divides the goods as such: antipasti, insalata, zuppa, pizza, panini, pasta and dolce. Each category is finely pared down to a curated list of options (one can't be overwhelmed with soup choices, of which there is but one listed—minestrone), which you'll enjoy scanning while not distracted by the farm-fresh, fanciful décor: painted paeans to chickens, an endearing doodle-mural on which robots and bunnies share their love for pizza, a sculptural divider wholly composed of frosted wine bottles. Red curtains and modern filigree pendant orb lamps divvy up the space cozily yet dramatically.

Antipasti, a mix-and-match concept with plenty of meat, veggie, cheese and seafood options, is a blessing and a curse. Get too adventurous and the platter price quickly escalates (each pick, from $2 Tuscan beans to $5 coppa, adds up), but the formaggi—especially luscious slabs of fontina ($4) and Gorgonzola dolce ($4)—certainly merits biggest bang for your buck. But pick carefully out of the bread basket; crusty white sourdough intermingles curiously though harmlessly with eggy brioche.

Yet few better things can be had for a fiver than the perfect minestrone soup, swimming with fresh squash and carrots and intoxicatingly redolent with parmesan and pesto. Why would you need another option? (Keep eyes open for a possible seasonal hubbard squash soup special; that may just well answer the question, quite tastily.)

Panzanella, a traditional Italian bread salad, is refreshing, yet a touch too BFF with the balsamic vinegar. The Caprese yet remains my star-crossed lover. Although pizza might seem to be the staple here, the crust emerges neither thin-crispy nor yeasty-chewy, but rather an unremarkable olive-oily mess.

At this table, the stars are the pasta and all their permutational magnificence: linguine with clams ($15), properly al dente in its God-given, briny-garlicky glory; spaghetti marinara with veal-beef meatballs ($18), so heartrendingly homey; garganelli carbonara's ($13) addictively creamy-cheesy sauce studded with pancetta and tiny bits of nostalgia.

Through the cannelloni ($14) with local squash, ricotta, walnuts, sage and mustard fruit heralds the colder season, Tavolo continues to glow welcomingly. And they're only getting warmed up.

TAVOLO

1918 DORCHESTER AVE.

DORCHESTER

617.822.1918

TAVOLOPIZZA.COM

LUNCH/DINNER, 11AM-10PM DAILY

(BAR UNTIL 11PM)