Simple Italian goodness

Typically we won’t stick around for a table if there’s a wait – our short attention span constantly reminds us that there are plenty of other places to eat within a few-minute’s drive of wherever we are. Wednesday night was different. Even though the  neighborhood eatery was packed with a comfortable mix of hungry families, swooning sweethearts and neighborhood regulars, we stuck around.

Ferrante’s Marketplace Cafe’s quaint gift shop offered enough distraction to keep us hanging around until a table opened up. Checking out sweet little baubles – handmade jewelry and cards, books and baby stuff, body lotion and home decor – helped pass the 15-minute wait. I’m pretty sure the pinot we sipped while browsing helped the time float by even faster.

Ferrante’s is set up for order-at-the-counter service, so if you’re in a hurry (or are waiting for a table), you can order as soon as you walk in the door. But even if you wait to order until you’re sitting at your table, food makes it to the table pretty quick. If you just can’t wait to eat, ask them to scoop you up a little dish of gelato, there are about a dozen different flavors to choose from every day, and there’s nothing wrong with eating dessert first. There’s nothing wrong with eating dessert before AND after, either.

Eric ordered a pasta dish with plenty of lemon zing, chicken and capers. I decided on one of their white sauce pizzas with pepperoncinis and spicy sausage on a cracker-thin crispy crust.

Both tasted amazingly fresh, light and filling, which always has a tendency to make me feel like I’m eating something healthy, even if there is a gooey layer of cheese smothering the entire thing. Eric finished his, but I boxed up half my pizza to take home because there was no way I was leaving without a scoop of that dense, creamy Triple Dutch Chocolate gelato. (And good gawd was it worth it … like eating frozen brownie batter with a spoon.)

You’ll find Ferrante’s at 4516 S. Regal (in the strip mall with Albertson’s and Rite Aid). They’re open 11a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday thru Saturday . Their number is 509.443.6304