Grano is suprisingly good. It looks like the average West Village Italian with neighborhood prices. The food definitely takes a step up. The bread and our appetizer was just good but the fresh homemade pastas we got were excellent.
Breadsticks are on every table. The waiter then brings Italian bread and their version of foccacia which tasted good to me but just didn't taste like focaccia. It was served with some ricotta mixture that neither of us were so fond of but I don't like ricotta so....Lon would've like some olive oil.
The stuffed calamari was good but not memorable. Lots of extra sauce to eat bread with, but maybe that's not a good thing. =P The pastas were way better. I ordered of the "specials list", a lemon linguini seafood pasta with a spicy cherry tomato sauce. I don't think it was really linguini, more like fettucini, and I question whether it was really a cherry tomato sauce, but still it was delicious. Wonderfully cooked seafood, nice delicate flavor, and beautifully presented. Actually, both of our pastas were the most beautifully plated pastas I have ever seen. Lon ordered the cavatelli (which was fantastic) with sausage and broccoli rabe. Again, full of flavor, meat and vegetable cooked perfectly, in a perfect portion. What I appreciated most was that all the ingredients were bite-sized. Since we don't usually eat pastas with a fork and knife, I don't know why so many places leave the ingredients in giant pieces. These pastas were comfortable to eat. Each bite could contain pasta, sauce and another 1 or 2 ingredients without stretching my mouth and making me look barbaric while I ate.
The menu had so many intriguing items that I'm sure Lon and I will be back soon.
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