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Matto Fornaio

Getting baked Italian-style

Because Jersey Shore has done irrevocable damage to the noble tradition of Italian baking, Matto Fornaio is taking back its good name, all the plan of a longtime chef & culinary instructor who's rolling out both sweet and savory treats in its snug, glass-cased storefront, which's centered around a vintage communal table, and adorned with piles of produce from fall pumpkins to the oranges used to make the OJ.

Sweet selections include traditional Italian cannoli and panna cotta, biscotti variations like cherry corn flour and almond fig, brioche filled with variously flavored mascarpone (chocolate, pear-cardamom, Amarone cherry), and slices of almond torte, almond re-tortes being put on hold when it turned out they had no comeback after being called nuts.

They're also deep on savory options, stuffing potato & egg breakfast tarts with coppa and fontina, rolling flaky strombolini with a lineup of mortadella, salami rossa, pancetta, and calabrese peppers, and filling miniature, pie-like crostata with taleggio and butternut squash, no longer just a popular forehead move at upstate NY frats when drinking Porkslap.

For caffeine, they're serving Metropolis coffee (also avail in bulk for taking home), and pantry fare runs from San Pellegrino to single-origin vanilla extracts, which clearly aren't New Jersey, as anything that's vanilla from there immediately dyes itself orange.

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Matto Fornaio (Emailed on November 29, 2011)

613 W Briar Pl, btwn Broadway and Orchard; Lakeview; 773.883.4411

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Tagged: Food: Coffee, Dessert, Italian

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