Normally, the opening of yet another Italian restaurant in a suburban strip mall is not a cause for excitement. In the case of Il Forno, though, the restaurant's name had me salivating in anticipation of my first visit. Or, more precisely, it was Il Forno's namesake wood-fired oven, which was built in Italy by renowned oven maker Valoriani.
My mouth watered at the prospect of eating a pizza baked in that oven by Fabio Esposito, whose dedication to authenticity has earned him a coveted certificate from the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association. I was also eager to sink my teeth into fire-roasted veal chops, espresso-rubbed pork tenderloin and other nightly specials that brothers Antonio and Enzo Mari, Esposito's partners (and fellow natives of Monte di Procida, a small town near Naples), planned to cook in the oven.
Set into an Italian glass-tile wall at the end of a curved granite-topped bar, the oven is the focal point of Il Forno's large, open dining room. Stucco walls, stone-tile floors, linen-draped tables and woodwork the color of Italian roast coffee evoke an Old World feel, though a few pictures on those walls - and maybe a potted plant or two - would do wonders to soften the look and dampen the sound level in the cavernous space.
Thankfully, it doesn't get so noisy that you can't hear the waiter recite the specials. I was all ears as he described a grilled filet and a stuffed pork chop, and then I asked which was cooked in the wood-fired oven.
"Neither, I'm afraid."
"Oh. Then what is being cooked in the oven?"
"Tonight, just the pizza."
Oh, well, I thought. I'll have something to look forward to on my second visit. This time, we'll order a pizza and sample a few other items on the menu.
We started with the appetizer platter, a shareable sampler of eggplant rollatini, fried mozzarella and stuffed mushrooms. The surprise hit was the mozzarella, which turned out to be a variation on the classic mozzarella in carozza featuring fresh mozzarella sandwiched between crisp golden slices of fried Italian bread, resting on a brandy-spiked tomato cream sauce. Fishy-tasting crabmeat spoiled the stuffed mushrooms, but the rollatini were a success.
So was the mixed grill of Italian sausage, boneless chicken and a small wood-fired steak that followed. The meats weren't cooked in the oven, but all were expertly grilled, and the vegetable accompaniments - roasted new potatoes, carrots and haricots verts - were clearly not just an afterthought. Ravioli all'Aragosta - squid-ink-black-and-white striped pasta pillows filled with lobster, shrimp and crab in a tomato cream sauce - were also a keeper.
The margherita pizza was a mixed blessing. The toppings - a colorful tweed of chopped San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and chiffonade basil - couldn't have been more authentic. But to say that the crust - thicker than I'd expected, and with an odd texture between chewy and spongy - was a disappointment would be an understatement.
The crust was better the next time I dined at Il Forno, though it still fell a bit short of its Valoriani oven promise. Nor was I able to find wood-fired consolation in the specials, which turned out to be a couple of grilled steaks.
A generous appetizer of sautéed mussels was rewarding, though, and thoughtfully served with a spoon for scooping up every bit of its savory sauce of white wine, olive oil, cherry tomatoes and an abundance of coarsely chopped garlic. Fried calamari were more than respectable, too, though their presentation on a long rectangular platter did little to keep them warm.
Temperature was also a problem with the grilled salmon that topped an otherwise exemplary salad of arugula and crispy prosciutto, but for a different reason. Given the excessive lag between appetizers and delivery of the entree salad, I suspect it was our pleasant but inexperienced server, and not the kitchen, who was to blame for the lukewarm fish.
Six months after opening, Il Forno's owners are clearly still ironing out the wrinkles. The kitchen shows flashes of promise, and with their combined experience of more than half a century, the partners are certainly capable of living up to that Valoriani oven. In the meantime, Il Forno is still better than your average suburban strip mall Italian restaurant.
