IL PAESANO – Restaurant

Part deli counter, part wine shop, part dining room - Il Paesano on East Oakland Park Boulevard does all three without picking a lane. Shelves of Italian pantry goods and bottles priced at market with no corkage frame a short kitchen menu: arancini and burrata to start, then spaghetti bolognese, eggplant parmigiana, spinach ravioli, gnocchi, truffled fiocchetti, spaghetti with clams and mussels. At lunch it turns to panini - salame and provolone, prosciutto and mozzarella. Regulars describe it less as a restaurant than as a friend's kitchen, with staff who will pull a bottle to match whatever you ordered. Come hungry; leave with a bottle.

Cuisine: Restaurant