Quiet dinner at Convivio

Four-course prix-fixe menu. Me: Misticanza, a small forgettable salad, Cicatelli, yummy baked pasta with burrata and rabbit ragu, Tagliata di Manzo (my choice, had been working hard all day and was not in the mood for another challenge), credible sliced steak. The Diner: a pork belly special starter (loved it), Malloreddus, tiny saffron gnocchi with crab and sea urchin, and Stinco di Maiale, rich flavorful pork shank. Desserts: house-made ice creams. Knowledgable staff, warm welcome on cold nasty sleety night. The place was not crowded and we got so much tender and helpful attention that I could not bring self to take pictures. Lucky with cabs both ways.

We've eaten at Convivio a few times, and love the food. Every restaurant has something that makes you remember it, and sometimes, unfortunately, this "feature" is not what the proprietors would choose. At Convivio, there's always been one loud guy (a different one each time) with truly antediluvian social and political opinions, at a table for four. The type who'd be a royalist if he could spell it, or join the Flat Earth Society if he could find it. You can tell who his date is - she's the one with the stunned expression planning vengeance on the relative who set up the evening. Not Convivio's fault at all, I think somewhere there must be a guidebook that suggests this lovely place as a perfect first date for the dubious.