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Experience Authentic Italian Dining at Abruzzi’s
by Lisa Clark
Everything about Abruzzi’s is vibrant.
From the sophisticated dining room’s warm Mediterranean palette to the vast menu of tasteful food to the lively crowd of diners, this South Side restaurant does Italian with a Pittsburgh attitude.
The menu reflects owner Tony Masci’s upbringing in Abruzzi, the central-coastal area of Italy. Childhood memories of his mother, who sold meats in the local market, and his father, a fisherman, heavily influence his restaurant’s popular pasta, meat, poultry, and fish selections.
Contemplate the menu as you nibble on fresh bread dipped in infused oil. No matter what you choose, perhaps your toughest decision will be which of Abruzzi’s delicious homemade sauces will complement your meal.
Abruzzi’s Tomato Sauce is a traditional slow-cooked sauce with a meat base. Marinara Sauce combines plum tomatoes with a seafood base, while Plum Tomato Sauce is lighter, with no meat or fish. All are Masci’s family recipes.
Flavorful Plum Tomato Sauce tops an appetizer of Polenta con Salsicce. The large golden polenta wedge is accompanied by a sizeable portion of grilled mild Italian sausage, peppers and sweet onions. For the more adventuresome, there is Pepperone Ripieni. This appetizer boasts four large hot peppers with ground veal stuffing and your choice of Plum Tomato Sauce or béchamel with walnuts.
You’ll want to try a cup or bowl of Chicken Pastina Soup. This light but savory combination of pasta with bits of egg and chicken is reminiscent of grandma’s.
Meaty Tomato Sauce and béchamel are the finishing touch for traditional Cannelloni—three large pasta rolls generously filled with veal and cheese. But it’s the homemade Gnocchi that is Abruzzi’s signature dish. Bite-size mounds of potato and ricotta are cloud-like and heavenly.
Look beyond pasta for selections such as Vitello con Salsicce, veal medallions with ground sausage in Plum Tomato Cream Sauce, and Steak Abruzzi, a 14- to 16-ounce New York strip broiled and topped with seasoned bread crumbs. Pollo Fungi features pan-fried chicken with sun-dried tomatoes and portabella mushrooms in creamy Sherry Wine Sauce. Zuppa di Pesce is a traditional Italian seafood soup of shrimp, scallops, clams, mussels, calamari, and fish with Marinara Sauce.
Save room for one of Abruzzi’s rich desserts, order coffee and watch the sun set outside the dining rooms’ big windows or from the patio out front. Amaretto Cream Cake with Toasted Almonds and Chocolate Fudge Cake are tempting. But it is Angie’s Delight—a big square of fresh banana cream pie—that steals the show.
Abruzzi’s location in the Holiday Inn Express on the South Side and valet parking make it a convenient stop before or after any of the city’s diversions. It doesn’t matter when you go, just get there.
—Lisa Clark is a writer and restaurant reviewer whose articles have appeared in newspapers and magazines.
Abruzzi’s
20 S. Tenth St.
(Holiday Inn Express)
South Side
412-431-4511
www.abruzzis.net
Hours:
Mon.-Fri. 11:00 AM-10:00 PM
Fri. & Sat. 11:00 AM-11:00 PM
Sunday 4:00 PM-9:00 PM
Dinner Price Range:
Appetizers & Soups — $3.25 to $14.95
Soups — $6.95 to $8.95
Entrées — $13.95 to $28.95
Desserts — $4.95 to $6.00
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