College Park and Adriatico are a perfect match. The Orlando neighborhood certainly has some good, or good enough, restaurants. But it’s been missing a quaint trattoria, the sort of Italian place with a mom-and-pop feel, one that’s comfortable, homey and immediately familiar. A welcoming spot where the food is good but beside the point.

That’s Adriatico.

The “mom and pop” owners are Marco and Rosetta Cudazzo. She runs the dining room, greeting guests with a matronly welcome, and he does the cooking, demonstrating the skills he most recently plied at the estimable Terramia, a multiple Foodie winner, and at Antonio’s La Fiamma in Maitland before that.

Have the scallopine alla Sienese or the pollo al limone. The scallops are a perfect appetizer. I could have made a meal of the three huge scallops sauteed with shallots and brandy in a creamy sauce tinged with a touch of mustard, served over fresh spinach. One could want little more when the appetizer is this good.

The classico antipasto misto was a thoughtful selection of salami, prosciutto, cubes of hard parmesan, roasted peppers, baby artichokes and a handful of some of the tastiest green olives ... Read more

The fried green tomatoes were wonderful, and a towering presentation of three tomatoes layered with crab and corn salad. The tomatoes were thick and firm and breaded just right. The barbecue shrimp were good, too, although there were only three in the dish and four of us at the table so we had to fight over them. The chicken livers were, well, chicken livers.

For our main course we each decided independently to order the porcini dusted filet mignon. I had mentioned to my companions that it has always been one of my Fonzo favorites. It still is. The meat was thick and as tender as it could be, and cooked to the requested temperature. The bit of truffle oil was just right -- enough to give it distinction but not so much as to overpower.

The filet mignon is still a... Read more