Cuisine:

• Italian
• Casual
• Diner
• Others

Buca di Beppo Description:
Yes, it's a chain (there's another one in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood), but Buca di Beppo feels like a one-of-a-kind dining experience. Arrive with a sense of humor, a big appetite, lots of family or friends, and an undiscerning palate to best appreciate this lively, family-style eatery. A composite of every Italian-American cliché you've ever heard, the kitschy décor features vintage Italian family photos, altars devoted to patron saints such as Sophia Loren, Joltin' Joe and Ole Blue Eyes, plus statues of saints. There's even a round Pope's table that seats 20. You'll need at least that many people to do justice to the platters of pasta, salad and chicken and veal, each intended to serve three to five persons. Meatballs as big as baseballs arrive with the spaghetti. The 12-layer lasagna, oozing meat and cheese, is the size of a shoebox. Two-foot long pizzas arrive with yeasty, cracker-thin crusts. The veal piccata doesn't impress us, but the chicken cacciatore---a whole bird in a red sauce studded with capers, mushrooms and garlic---does. For dessert, order a quart of tiramisu or a slice of cheesecake the size of California. Almost everyone leaves here laughing, with belts loosened and shopping bags full of leftovers, so mangia, baby, mangia.


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