Cafe del Mondo
Guess what? I've made your dinner plans for next Thursday. Wasn't that easy? You don't even have to think about what to order. All you have to do is make a reservation and find some spare wine lying about your house. You say you only have a budget of $40 for dining out this week? Even better.
Located in an unassuming warehouse on 4th street is one of the city's hidden lunch treasures. Many are already familiar with their scathingly Italian espresso, their calzones and paninis, and whatever else has been cooked up for lunch - I've been there on occasion (too bad they weren't open when I used to work at the Smith Brother's Hardware Building), but until recently, I had no idea they served dinner every once in awhile.
When a friend, whose taste I trust implicitly, told me a 4-6 course dinner was served on Thursday nights for around $20, I was incredulous, but excited to see what it was all about. And it's true. It's all true. There's no liquor license, so I came armed with wine in hand. Wine I already had at home, so there was no need to even buy something on the way - I'm really sticking to my budget!
Cafe del Mondo is small and cozy - it's a pleasant, warm orange color and seats about 20 or so. Our server opened out wine for us and we were presented with a plate of simple bruschetta. It seemed simple, tomatoes on toast, but the tomatoes were spiked with a little garlic, and the bread was perfectly toasted.
Next up came a great little salad topped with many things in the Italian vein - olives, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella and a good, housemade balsamic vinaigrette. It was the quality of the simple ingredients which shone; the roasted red peppers were seriously good, almost buttery rich. I'm sorry for the picture, I was a little timid, being with a few people who haven't seen my compulsive picture-taking before:
For dinner, we were served sliced pork loin topped with a simple sauce of capers and a few oven roasted tomatoes. On the side was a simple - but perfectly cooked - pile of spaghetti tossed in butter and pine nuts and covered with a little dusting of good Parmesan; it could have used a little salt, but we kept marveling at the perfect al dente-ness of the noodles. Good, not overcooked green beans finished the dish, cooked up with a little bacon and more of those roasted red peppers. Everything was simple, unpretentious, and quite good:
Dessert came - a tall, proud layer cake with simple whipped cream frosting and lemon curd filling. I very unwisely chose to have an espresso, a decision I had 9 hours to regret as I lay in bed cursing my thoughtlessness. I guess I am officially old - gone are the days of chugging pints of coffee all day long and still getting my 8 hours of blissfully unaware sleep. It's all downhill from here, I guess. Soon I'll be giving my waitresses the evil eye and insisting they've slipped regular into my coffee cup, promising them late-night calls of curses and burnings in effigy. It all happened so fast. My, haven't I digressed? I hope no vitriol for little old ladies came through. Here, calm down by looking at this cake:
I ate 1/3 of the cake last night, and then had the rest for breakfast. As I tossed and turned all night, wondering how one measly ounce of beverage could so ruin my slumber, eating the rest of that simple cake for breakfast was my one comfort. That and the promise that on Monday, I can get all the sleep I want.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, I encourage you to break your routine and visit Cafe del Mondo for their Thursday night dinners; my dinner cost $18. No joke - plus, leave a nice tip, remembering your server opened your wine even though you didn't buy it there. Reservations are required and dress is casual. Please specify any dietary concerns, as there is no menu. If you want to be extra special nice, you might want to bring in a little grappa or limoncello for the chef.
Info: Cafe del Mondo 659 N. 4th St in Columbus (Italian Village) 614.294.5000
