New Café Continental Buzzing with Good Vibes

Michael Muckian
The Capital Times

Nick Schiavo has "The Buzz.'' That's what they call it when news and reputation becomes self-spreading, rising to the top of the public consciousness. The fourth-generation member of the Madison restaurant dynasty that began in the city's old Greenbush neighborhood recently launched his Café Continental to more fanfare than many restaurateurs see in a lifetime.

Of his opening last weekend, he could only say, "We ran out of food Saturday night and I had to turn away 65 people. I don't ever want to have to do that again.''

We'll see. The Buzz, coupled with a nice entree selection well-prepared, will bring a lot of hungry people to his King Street door. And to his 115 W. Main St. back door.

Schiavo doesn't plow any new culinary ground, but his selection of entrees, sandwiches and pasta dishes shows careful thought and a reasonably good balance. The two we tried during our recent visit show that the kitchen, too, knows what it's doing.

The restaurant, housed in a former comic book store, has been done up with a cool sophistication redolent of New York restaurants in the 1920s. The burgundy and cream interior is dimly but creatively lit, while pleasant, although incongruous, oldies rock music plays in the background.

Fourteen moderately interesting appetizers start an even more interesting menu. The calamari, mussels, oysters and clams ($5.59 to $5.99) lead to bruschetta with prosciutto, cheese, olive, marinated artichokes and tomatoes ($5.29) and Escargot Continental ($5.79 for six and $10.79 for 12 of the little slimers).

We moved past the appetizers and the sandwiches, although the grilled eggplant with lemon aioli, feta and mint on fresh baked foccaccia with a marinated lentil salad ($6.79) sounded very good.

Instead we went right to the entrees. The menu features 11 of them, including osso bucco, veal shanks braised in tomato and white wine sauce with vegetables and fresh herbs on rice ($16.99); grilled yellowfin tuna crusted with a parsley-mint coating and served with roasted Vesuvio potatoes and grilled asparagus ($16.99); and Paella Continental with seafood, sausage, poultry, peas and roasted peppers in spicy olive oil, Roma tomatoes and white wine sauce ($13.99).

From the entree list we ordered crab cakes served with spicy jalapeno pimento sauce, black bean and roasted vegetable salad and garlic mashed potatoes.

The pasta side of the menu offers nine dishes, starting with farfalle (bowtie) pasta served with traditional tomato sauce and basil ($5.79) at the low end and Shellfish Continental, a blend of farfalle pasta with mussels, shrimp, calamari and cremini mushrooms in an olive oil, white wine, garlic and chili pepper sauce ($15.99).

We chose Penne Mediteraneo, penne pasta blended with sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, kalamata olives and feta cheese ($7.29).

Dinners are a la carte, so we also ordered house salads of mixed greens with balsamic vinaigrette dressing ($4.99 each).

Four pieces of excellent hard-crusted, freshly baked bread with a saucer of olive oil started our dinner, along with glasses of an adequate house Pinot Grigio ($3 each.) Our highly efficient and friendly waitress Dianne brought us a second plate of bread with our salads.

In a day when mixed greens salads have become commonplace, these were outstanding. The greens blend was as varied and exotic as most of them, but the richly flavored balsamic vinaigrette showed unusual strength and character. We enjoyed it immensely.

That same strength and clarity of flavors could be found in each of our entrees as well. Top-notch chefs know that good entrees must be greater than the sum of their parts, and these fell into that category.

Most surprising was the penne pasta. The fairly ordinary blend of ingredients came alive when tossed together, filled with flavors and textures that take it a step or two above dishes in other pasta restaurants. No single element stood out, but all worked in concert, as they should, for a truly fine meal.

The crab cakes, while a little bready, also were very flavorful. Produced from frozen crabmeat, the two cakes offered a subtle blend of flavors to the palate. The spicy jalapeno pimento sauce was not that spicy at all, but it nevertheless had some nice, albeit muted, flavors. The garlic mashed potatoes had just the right amount of garlic, although they were a little long on the lumps. The cold black bean and vegetable salad was very refreshing.

Dinner filled us up, but we had just enough room for a plate of mini cannolis ($1.29 for one; $3.50 for three) and a cup of adequate coffee ($1 each.) The thumb-sized desserts were stuffed with a sweet blend of ricotta cheese and chocolate chips in powdered sugar dusted shells. Not an orgasmic dessert by any measure, but very enjoyable.

Dianne, too, kept up her part of the bargain and earned a much coveted TCT Service Star for being one of the best waitpersons we've ever experienced.