Guido's

By Billy Curtright

Cuisine editor

All of the sudden, the hot new food district in town is centered around Washington Square, the midtown residential neighborhood consisting of Oakleigh and the Lienkauf districts.

La Pizzeria has established itself as a solid, upscale Italian spot with great, stone-fired pizzas. Callaghans’s Irish Social Club has evolved to a local pub with uber-tasty burgers (and now, killer muffelattas). Cross Government Street and you’re at Saucy Q BBQ, one of our top-shelf barbeque joints that recently expanded to Moffett Road. Now, the empty Bella Koozeena house has just been filled with a proven winner in Guido’s.

The original Guido’s in Daphne has been one of the most successful restaurants on the Eastern Shore this side of Gambino’s. Several years ago, a second Guido’s opened in WeMo across from the USA campus only to become Via Emillia after a split between the partners. Their menu is similar to Guido’s as well as their excellent Old World Italian dishes.

I did break a cardinal rule of food critics by going to Guido’s after only a week of service. You really need to give a new place a month to get all of the kinks out, but my anticipation got the best of me. Not only was I excited, so were my Lovely Companion and her Slovenly Brother.

The first thing I noticed was the beautiful, old two-story house with the festive Christmas decorations. Once inside, the house itself gave this Guido’s a more formal flair than its over-the-bay cousin. From the spacious front bar area to the small dining rooms, the dark décor colors and the smell of garlic dominated the atmosphere. The place was hoppin’. Smooth holiday jazz music and boisterous conversations woke up our entire group. Then a little confusion set in.

We were taken to our back table immediately by two servers dressed all in black. As we took our seats next to a colossal painting of tomatoes, one of the servers told us to get back up and go out into the hallway to view the chalkboard menu. No problem. As we approached the wall-sized board, our eyes were overwhelmed by 15 or so delectable selections, each one sounding better than the last. Then, as we all started to get dizzy, one of the servers came by and said, “Don’t worry, your server has a list of all of these.” Whew, that was a relief.

A third waiter came to our table and introduced himself. Wine and adult beverages were ordered and appetizers were discussed. The waiter did not have any written down or memorized. No problem. My Slovenly Bother-in-Law went back out to the hallway and came back with several selections for the table.

Fresh, hot bread came out along with my ice cold Peroni Italian beer. It’s a great pilsner that is both strong and dry. You never see it in Italy, however. This is like never seeing Corona in Mexico (I would not even serve Corona to my enemies).

Anyway, the roasted artichoke appetizer ($7) came out swimming in the three best things in life: wine, garlic and butter. The dish had a true homemade flavor and was a hit around the table. However, it did lack a true roasted flavor since it was more braised than roasted.

The appetizer of escargot ($7) was served in a cream sauce with artichokes and hints of butter and French herbs. Overall, a great dish like mom would make but not as spicy as I would have liked. Adding artichokes to the mix was perfect, but snails beg for extra garlic.

One of our rotating servers came to us and asked about ordering the entrées. My Lovely Companion had the three-leaf salad before her entrée. With raspberry vinaigrette and feta, it was a salad close to perfection. Only the excess amount of dressing took some of the crunchiness out.

Our entrees came out and the first thing we noticed was the size. The massive mounds of Italian cuisine could have been served family style. After our appetizers, our table of four could have easily been fed with two entrees. But half the fun was checking out everyone’s dish.

My Veal Sienna ($17) was a gorgeous, gastronomic presentation of two filets of sautéed veal with red peppers and a heavy cream sauce over mashed potatoes. It was piping hot and packed with robust Italian flavors and American heft. Roasted squash, zucchini and mushrooms made for a nice medley side dish as did my glass of Tiaziano Chianti.

The entrée for my Lovely Companion was the highlight of the evening. Her chicken breast was stuffed with arugala, red peppers and walnuts ($17). A light, basil cream sauce made each bite worth the trip to the chalkboard. She had the same mashed potatoes and veggies. Once again, this dish could feed two.

Unfortunately, there was no room for dessert. But we’ll get that next time, because there should be many future visits. We might even try Cousin Vinny’s next time. That is their more casual menu in the bar area featuring pizzas, sandwiches and calzones.

While some of the logistics of ordering will no doubt be worked out as Guidos gets up and running, we hope the homemade, family-style Italian-American cuisine will not change. They have it down like the Eastern Shore original.

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