Grano

Grano Review

Light, bright, and happy: that's the setting for this restaurant in a pretty piazza down the street from the Pantheon. The outdoor tables are truly pleasant on a sunny day, and inside, the decor—splashy abstract drawings, high-tech lights, and whitewashed bookcases—lends a Milanese sophistication to the dining rooms. A nice wine from the well-stocked cellar, and you're off, with inventive starters like the polpetti di brasato (slow-cooked braised beef made into breaded meatballs topped with a zingy green sauce). And the first courses really shine, mingling meat and seafood and vegetables with aplomb (the gnocchi with clams and sea beans was fresh and delicious). Second courses include tuna steak with caponata and roast chicken, simple and good, but not as interesting as most of the primi. Desserts are tasty and the setting calls for slow sipping of dessert wines and post-prandial digestivi.