All in the famiglia

Café Via Dante is a bona fide mom 'n' pop shop

by SARAH MUSGRAVE

From the outside, Café Via Dante looks like another one of those coffee shops where old men in caps and beige windbreakers play cards and talk about upcoming trips to Boca Raton. And until three months ago, that was pretty much the scene in this Little Italy trattoria overlooking Dante Park and the church that holds Montreal's only Mussolini mural. These days, though, it also serves up delicious homecooked meals, courtesy of the Trogi family.

"It started when my mother came in to cook one day, just for friends," the waiter told us. Since then, she's been showing up in the morning to make the meals, while his dad mans the bar and the kids help out in the kitchen and work the floor. As we munched on some bruschetta, he went on to decipher the chalkboard menu for us in straightforward terms. His descriptions were a welcome change from the barrage of ingredients sometimes reeled off by servers, leaving you thinking the offerings sounded delicious if only you could remember what they were.

It's basically classic Italian cooking with several regional specialties. Along with a rotating selection of appetizers and main courses, every day has its signature dish. There's fish soup on Wednesdays, homemade gnocchi on Thursdays and osso bucco alla milanese on Saturdays. We visited on a Friday, which coincided with polenta e coniglio (rabbit and cornmeal). As with the limited number of meals, there are only about five wines to choose from-- the $30 Brentino Merlot is a good choice.

The starters all sounded great, including fennel salad with oranges, minestrone soup and portobello mushrooms with balsamic vinegar ($6-10). We chose the carciofini, a plate of fresh baby artichokes, pleasantly simple and homey. We also tried a Tuscan dish called vitello tonnato, a slice of cold veal with a tuna, mayonnaise and caper sauce. This unusual pairing was served with sweet grilled yellow pepper and Moroccan olives.

For the main course, my friend ordered the daily dish ($16). The pieces of rabbit were brown and almost crispy on the outside, encasing solid chunks of nicely roasted meat. It came with a cornmeal cake that was firm on the fork and soft in the mouth. It was topped with mushrooms in a light, slightly tangy brown sauce. The dish had a unified taste and wasn't fussed up with contrasting accompaniments.

I hemmed and hawed between the shrimp and scallop risotto and the vegetarian lasagna, before settling on the ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach ($14). The large pasta squares were perfectly cooked and served in a goat cheese sauce, adorned with fresh basil leaves and strips of delectable sun-dried tomato.

Both dishes were delicious if a little on the heavy side. It was the kind of meal after which you declare that you couldn't possibly eat another bite, only to find yourself ordering dessert moments later. The homemade tiramisu was just as should be, fluffy and not too sweet, with a dusting of cacao on the layers of ladyfingers and mascarpone. The lemon granita with coffee liqueur was a great combination, reinvigorating and cleansing ($3.50). We finished up with a couple of digestivi, a refreshing chilled lemoncino and a sambucca ($4).

If you're looking for dinner in Little Italy, there's always the St-Laurent strip for something a little more swanky. But don't forget to explore residential side streets for a meal at a real neighbourhood joint. This one certainly didn't disappoint: the food manages to be a pretty decent balance between rustic and fancy, and the café atmosphere keeps it cozy and casual.

Café Via Dante

Address: 252 Dante

Phone: 270-8446

Hours: Tues-Fri noon-2:30pm, 5:30-10pm; Sat 5:30-10pm; closed Sun & Mon

Best features: low-key atmosphere, classic homecooking

Vegetarian friendly: yes

Credit cards: yes

Wheelchair access: two steps up

Alcohol: yes

Price: $24/person before tax, drinks or tip

Rating: HHH out of HHHH