Café Continental A Treasure fit for King Street

Chris Martell
Wisconsin State Journal

The long wait for the opening of Downtown's newest upscale restaurant, Café Continental, in the King Street renaissance zone, was making the natives restless. In this case, the natives being the many diehard fans of Antonio's Restaurant, on Park Street, who were overjoyed that Antonio and Rosemary Schiavo and their son, Nick, were opening another dining establishment.

The numerous construction delays in the renovation of the 1858 building that was once a tack shop, once housed The Capital Times, and was most recently 20th Century Books, may have been frustrating to everyone concerned. But the results are worth the wait.

The dining room and bar has been transformed into an elegant bistro that looks like something you'd find in Europe or New York. A row of burgundy banquettes line the walls, and heavy burgundy velvet curtains, which look like something you'd see in a 1930s movie theater, help define the space. Large gilt-framed mirrors help you see what's going on around you in the narrow dining area that parallels the bar. The only aesthetic glitch we noticed was the music, which was rock that sounded gratingly tinny, possibly from the acoustics of the place.

The menu's logo is a "Trinacria" -- the tri-cornered symbol of Sicily representing the powers of eagles from the sky, serpents of the sea and feminine wisdom. This menu was indeed created with someone who has wisdom about how to make a restaurant successful -- not surprising since Nick Schiavo's grandfather and great-grandfather were also in the business, and photos of their taverns are on the walls.

We wanted to try everything. Our waiter helped us out by recommending the goat cheese-stuffed prosciutto pillows, $6.79. The prosciutto itself, which is a contender for the best on earth, wrapped around a creamy goat cheese studded with sun-dried tomatoes -- a remarkable combination of flavors and textures that made these part of my personal "best things I ever tasted'' list. The pillows were on a bed of very fresh baby spinach that had been evenly and lightly tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette with many harmonious flavor notes.

Salads are not included in the price of entrees, so this was among the very interesting salads that could either suffice for dinner or be the preface. Other salad choices were Caesar Continental (with a choice of grilled chicken, shrimp, calamari or fried calamari), smoked trout on mesclun with gorgonzola and champagne vinaigrette, or marinated duck leg confit on mixed green with pine nuts and cranberry balsamic vinaigrette, each of which cost at least $7. You can also get a simple salad of mixed greens for about $5. A cup of soup is an additional $2 when you order a salad or entree (more expensive when you order it alone).

With dinner we received the Italian bread, which arrived at room temperature with a bowl of what tasted like plain olive oil for dipping. While there was nothing wrong with it, it was a disappointment compared with everything else we tried here.

The list of 10 pasta entrees sounded sublime: things like farfalle with melted brie, pine nuts, fresh basil and Roma tomatoes, and penne with smoked trout, tomato, Italian parsley and a cognac cream reduction sauce.

They are, on top of everything, modestly priced, with most between about $6 and $8. There are also six 10-inch thin-crust pizzas to choose from, with things like prosciutto, mozzarella, grilled eggplant, roasted garlic, tomato and sweet onion.

The Sicilian-inspired choices beckoned, but we knew for many good experiences at Antonio's how skilled they were with such food, so we decided to see how they handled some of the other things.

My crab cakes, $9.99, left me with no regrets about my choice. They were heavy on the crab, but still had a light texture, with intense flavor contributed by the spicy jalapeno pimento sauce. The tangy black bean and roasted vegetable salad that came with it was a delicious and logical companion. The garlic mashed potatoes on the edge of my plate, though they aren't a likely companion, provided a delicious contrast in texture and taste. Our waiter also recommended these, and he again was correct.