Italian food lovers, make room for Enotria

There is no Nonna in David Hahne's family tree. Still, you'd never guess there was no Italian blood fueling his inspired preparations of Italian cuisines in his kitchen at Enotria.

Hahne, a transplant from the Twin Cities, opened Enotria last fall in the space that was Union Bay Cafe for more than 30 years. He and his significant other, Amber Luton -- Enotria's gracious greeter, occasional server and buser -- introduced a menu of Italian-influenced dishes that spin contemporary and effectively incorporate local ingredients. Diners shouldn't form attachments to any favorites, though, as the menu is a moving target, constantly changing.

I'd return to Enotria in a Firenze minute for a bowl of steaming ribollita, the underappreciated Tuscan bread soup. This hearty vegetable soup of cannellini beans, leeks and tomatoes doesn't get bogged down in an overload of too much bread gone soggy; its lightness seems to straddle the gap between winter and spring. Sadly, I haven't seen it on the menu since my first dinner, a meal that ranks as one of the most enjoyable I've experienced in a long time.

The evening started with a spur-of-the-moment call to see about snagging a table on a Saturday when I found myself in Laurelhurst. Luton sounded downright neighborly when saying, "Sure, come on in."

The dining room is split into equal parts -- east and west -- which gives an intimate feel, even if the tables are a bit tight. The servers and the busy buser seem to constantly bob and weave to avoid each other, a fascinating dance to watch.

In addition to the extensive menu of antipasti, salads, dinner-plate-size pizzas, pastas and entrees, there is a raft of daily specials.

Like many restaurants, Enotria encourages sharing. Servers deftly divvy up salads and pastas tableside, a thoughtful gesture I haven't experienced since, well, a trip to Italy. Grazie to Enotria for reintroducing this old-school tradition to our small-plates nation.

However, if I had it to do over, I'm not sure I'd be willing to share the pork-sausage-stuffed tortellini, made in house and absolutely incredible. The fennel-spiked sausage was assertively seasoned so there was no chance it was going to melt into the background tucked into the tender pasta pockets. A simple tomato-cream sauce complemented rich tortellini.

It's easy to go for a one-two pork punch, as the entrees often feature the slightly gamy, rambling, ranch-raised boar. (Hahne gets a meat merit badge for not labeling it "wild," as so many menus misleadingly do in Seattle.)

Boar-sausage-stuffed pork tenderloin was sublime, the sausage keeping the lean loin from drying out as it roasted. A chestnut honey drizzle, roasted pears and a Treviso raddichio gave the plate contrasting sweet and bitter notes.

During my second dinner, Enotria was offering three courses for $30, part of the New Urban Eats promotion. On a Sunday evening, the restaurant was filled with families. The youngest diner at my table was excited to see pizza on the menu. After trying a couple of bites of Caesar, though, she scooted the plate in my direction, saying it tasted "too authentic." I agreed, and give the kitchen a big green thumbs up. I'm so tired of Caesars dumbed down to appeal to mainstream palates. Bring on the garlic and anchovies. I also appreciated that the crisp, cold romaine was torn, not chopped.

The Uva is another winning salad, a tangle of pleasantly bitter greens including arugula, escarole and, yup, those are dandelion greens. They're dressed in a roasted-grape vinaigrette. Walnut-crusted goat cheese sits on top.

That evening's featured main courses included a nicely done butternut squash ravioli and grilled swordfish in an orange-caper-leek sauce. But the side of porcini risotto stole the fish's thunder. The Arborio rice had a pleasantly chewy texture that only accentuated the earthy character of the mushrooms. I'd love to see that risotto become a permanent fixture on the menu.

Portion sizes are reasonable at Enotria, smaller than the supersize helpings at many restaurants. Which sets the stage for dessert, whose options are presented to the table on a small tray. Unlike the rest of the novel menu, the kitchen plays it safe for the final course. Nothing wrong with that. The apple tart, a bittersweet chocolate cake and tiramisu were rock-solid renditions, if not particularly memorable. I hoped for something more ambitious from a kitchen turning out impressive veal braciole, a juniper-marinated venison loin and pasta emboldened by guanciale, the uncured bacon made from pig's jowls. (I got a kick out of watching servers describing this offbeat meat, using hand gestures to demonstrate where the jowls are.)

Seafood played a starring role during another dinner, the opening act a magnificent antipasto for two that featured lovely Kusshi oysters dressed in a Meyer lemon-caper relish, seared tuna dusted with fennel pollen (which looked pretty, but didn't really add much flavor), bites of oven-roasted potato-crusted sablefish (also known as black cod), grouper ceviche and exceptionally sweet grilled shrimp on a skewer. This collection was as pretty as it was fresh-from-the-sea delicious.

After sharing the ample starter and splitting a terrific warm beet and roasted pear salad, our party of two opted for pasta as an entree. The gnocchi was as tender as a potato dumpling can possibly be, barely there. Yet it was still substantial enough to bear the intense boar ragu flavored with a hint of bittersweet chocolate.

The cannelloni was only all right, the chopped chicken a bit too chunky to qualify as a mousse and not chunky enough to work as pulled chicken. The béchamel was a rare weak spot in the kitchen's quiver of stellar sauces, lacking the classic tarragon twist.

During dinner, the restaurant was slammed, and service went from relaxed and attentive to somewhat frenetic. Quiet conversation became impossible. When a table nearby got up after paying its tab, one woman leaned over to assure me: "Now you can have a little peace and quiet."

Not likely. Not as the word gets out that this restaurant is worth adding to any Italian food lover's list of to-do dining destinations.