"Amodeo is a native of Palermo, Sicily. Some specialties at the new restaurant will reflect his own heritage, including a broccoli and cauliflower pasta with pine nuts and raisins and a wild fennel, sardine and bread crumb pasta.
Many of the dishes on the new Bucatini menu reflect the broad range of Italian food and the many specialties of the country's various regions. "The concept behind the restaurant is a more casual, trattoria kind of atmosphere.
I'm emphasizing regional specialties from places like Toscara, Piedmont, Calabria," he said.
Examples of the regional cuisine Bucatini is serving include black squid ink risotto from the Genoa area or an asiago gnocchi from Tuscany. He added that the restaurant makes its own pizza dough and features over 20 thin crust varieties."
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The Capital Times -
December 1, 2008
"Finally, a local establishment in a "Sea" of chains. This comfortable, almost "home like" restaurant is a great addition to Middletons Greenway Station! Not only, does a locally owned business make me want go but, the food is wholesome FRESH-Yumm!"
- Jaimi - Madison (02/19/09 19:25:42)
" Bucatini pasta is long like spaghetti, but a thicker and hollow noodle resembling a narrow tube. It's among the -- count 'em -- 45 pasta choices at the new Bucatini trattoria that opened in the space of the failed Romano's Macaroni Grill at Greenway Station in Middleton.
Enzo Amodeo opened the restaurant in November. He also owns Tutto Pasta & Trattoria less than a mile away, and is the former owner of the two Tutto Pasta restaurants in Madison.
"I wanted to create a different concept, more regional plates," Amodeo said.
"I wanted to create more value for the customer, for this period of life where everybody is kind of struggling. Healthy food, portions and price." There are separate lunch and dinner menus, and Amodeo emphasized how a customer could come in for lunch and have a meal and a beverage for $10. He also talked up his house wines, made for him by an Italian winery, that are available for $4 per glass, and also by the carafe ($10 and $18).
Amodeo has done the best he can with the former chain restaurant space. It's roomy and comfortable, with lots of booths, amber lighting and an open kitchen in back. The walls are a burnt orange and are decorated with food-related art.
The time between courses was about 45 minutes. But the food, I will say, was worth waiting for. I had the manicotti di aragosta e gamberi ($15.95), a special, that was fantastic. Three manicotti were stuffed with meaty pieces of lobster and shrimp and surrounded by a saffron-laced vodka cream sauce.
My companion's penne saracena ($12.99) was less flashy but perfectly tasty. Penne pasta was covered in a superb marinara and tossed with mild Italian sausage, bell peppers, mushrooms and trebbiano, a white Italian wine.
Given the long wait for that first dinner, I didn't trust the 15- to 20-minute estimate I was given for takeout food later in the week. So, when I showed up 45 minutes later, the bartender said it had been sitting out for about 20 minutes.
However, the risotto piemontese ($14.99) was still warm and absolutely sensational. It's one of the best meals I've had in recent memory. The risotto was in a wonderful gravy made with pinot grigio and white truffle oil. Italian fennel sausage, porcini mushrooms and onions -- three ingredients that make for a successful pizza -- completed the generous dish."
