The same family behind Trattoria Trullo runs this deli-style joint just down the street. The brightly-lit, black and white interior offers seating for a few lunch-on-the-run types, but welcomes linger-over-dinner folks as well. If you do stop by for a quick fix, be prepared to spend a few minutes looking over an extensive menu. Salads like chicken caesar and classic Greek cover the pizza-parlor lunchtime basics, but more gourmet pastures are open for roaming. Try the chicken walnut salad ($6.95) tossed with mixed greens, raisins and tomatoes in a raspberry vinaigrette.

No Italian menu would be complete without a roster of panini, so take your pick from a selection that includes portabello or piccante, laced with pepperoni, capicolla and punch-packing giardinera. Amongst the more substantial dishes, pasta selections include spaghetti, rigatoni, tortellini, penne and ravioli. Entrees dole out saucy pieces of chicken, veal, shrimp and rib-eye steak. The somewhat-different timpano stuffs ingredients like eggplant, chicken or sausage into a pasta pie and (beware, carb-phobes) bakes the whole concoction in Panino's dough.

Average cost: $10-$20

Centerstage Reviewer: Jennifer Berg