I know it's not cool these days to not eat veal, but I recommend it highly.

Ages ago on University Way there was an Italian restaurant called Ave´.. run by two delightful gentleman, both named Bruno. The waitstaff included 2 beautiful Italian brothers. One of the Bruno’s mother would visit from Italy and she would make the most heavenly gnocchi .. Italian food made by Italians is different than the food made by wanna-be Italians ..it’s less pretentious and often cooked a bit too long for our “refined’ palates .. but the sweetness of a lovely Roman man is so much happier than the shrugging indifference of a tattooed hipster waiter making the event a cultural event as much as anything else.

Most Italian restaurants in the US today seem to be run by either Greeks or Middle Easterners. Yes, these cuisines share some of the same pedigree with Italian cooking, but unfortunately the Greek or Middle Eastern influences often overwhelm the "Italianess" of the food served.

One rule of thumb I have with Italian restaurants, the more pretentious and concept conscious the restaurant usually the farther away it is from real Italian cooking. The food is almost always pretty bad, too.

Nothing like feeding stereotypes, eh?

You really missed out by not trying Doria's gnocchi--best I've had in this city.