Casa Bella

Casa Bella means beautiful house, which this charming in-town restaurant is. Its several cozy dining rooms and outdoor tables are a homespun setting with ambience that is casual but not the least bit sloppy.

The menu is a roster of Italian classics: pastas of every shape; veal Francese, Parmagian, piccata or saltimbocca; shrimp scampi and occasional shrimp puttanesca; and always a fish of the day available grilled, blackened, Francese, or Mediterranean. It’s all good, prepared with expertise and top-notch ingredients. One inconspicuous highlight of the menu is listed simply as “grilled chicken breast.” In fact, it is wonderful Italian comfort food, marinated in rosemary, olive oil, and garlic: easy to slice and a pleasure to savor.

All dinners begin with a length of crusty bread accompanied by a bowl full of roasted-tender garlic cloves lolling in olive oil. It’s a simple dish, rather elegant to look at and virtually lascivious to eat.

There’s a modest wine list and a full bar that offers standard cocktails as well as such specialties as a peach Bellini and a limoncello margarita.