Dining Out: Sinatra is gone, but the romance lives on at Pazza Luna
by Lynn Williams
maindish@baltimoreguide.com
Frankie doesn’t live here anymore.
At Pazza Luna, once a veritable shrine to Sinatra-love, you can still catch him on the sound system, and if you look around the main floor dining room—remodeled, but still moon-and-stars romantic—you’ll find his image on a light switch. For the most part, though, the newly revived Locust Point restaurant has shed its ties to the guy who once sang “Oh you crazy moon, what have you done?”
However, new owner Riccardio Bosio does have something in common with Old Blue Eyes: he did it his way.
For starters, he didn’t want his new venture to be a spinoff of Sotto Sopra, his suave Charles Street flagship. Pazza Luna was intended as a casual spot—a trattoria rather than a ristorante—where neighbors dropping in for a moderately priced platter of pasta are as welcome as high-rollers out for a drop-dead multi-course meal.
The menu is divided into antipasti (appetizers), insalate (salads), primi (pasta), secondi (entrees) and dolci (desserts). Each section offers just a handful of choices, but there are sure to be a few specials dreamed up by chef Gianfranco Fracassetti.
Salads are ample in size but light and tempting—an ideal start to a meal. Two very different approaches to the mixed salad are the Insalata Mista con Aceto Bianco ($8), which tosses field greens with orange segments, olives, walnuts, raisins and goat cheese, and the Rucola Fragole e Parmagiano con Balsamico ($9), which plays the sweetness of strawberries against the salty tang of roasted prosciutto and shaved Parmesan.
My friend’s linguini with white clam sauce ($16.50) was a superb rendition of this underrated classic. The pasta was perfectly al dente, each strand bathed in white wine and clam essence.
Chef Fracassetti’s fish special featured bronzino napped with a limoncella sauce. I had assumed that the limoncella—a liqueur native to Sicily—would give the dish a lemony flavor, but it had a creamy fruitiness akin to Grand Marnier. It was less bronzino a la française than bronzino a la Dreamsicle. This isn’t a criticism—it was divine.
Desserts include, in addition to the familiar cannoli and tiramisu, the exotic-sounding Semifreddo ai Tre Cioccolati ($7) and Mela al Cartoccio ($7). No sense of adventure is required to tackle the dolci menu, though; the first is a layered mousse of white, milk and dark chocolates, the second a homey apple tart with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.
By the way, the creator of all these delights is the real (Italian) thing. Despite his Celtic coloring, he grew up in the Italian Alps. Though Sinatra’s gone, it’s fun to have a Young Blue Eyes in the kitchen!
The Latest Dish…
In most bars, the only magic going on is a vanishing act: they serve you a drink, you make it disappear. There’s a higher level of prestidigitation happening at the new Illusions Magic Bar and Lounge (1025 S. Charles St., 410-727-5811), though. The brainchild of Ken Horsman, a former Ringling clown who runs a Federal Hill magic shop, it features a full bar, candlelit tables, and tabletop magic by Horsman’s son Spencer, an illusionist who has appeared on Letterman and in Vegas. The lounge, which is open Wednesday through Saturday evenings, is high-end classy – “It looks like the Titanic, without water,” Ken Horsman says – so leave the athletic wear home. There’s no menu yet; according to the owner, “we’re going to start with desserts, and maybe add other food later on.”
Pazza Luna
Location: 1401 E. Clement St.
Hours: Lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., Dinner 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Mon.-Sat.
Phone: 410-962-1212
Our meal for two: $75.25
