Restaurant Review: Tutto Pasta Trattoria Restaurant and Cafe

Are you looking for great pasta and pizza from an authentic Italian restaurant? Then look no further than Tutto Pasta Trattoria Restaurant and Cafe, located in the cities of Madison and Middleton, in the little state of Wisconsin.

Tutto Pasta is headed by a Sicilian family spanning two generations. The original Tutto is downtown at 305 State Street. The newer Tutto is in Middleton (on the far West Side of Madison) at 1900 Cayuga Street. I've been to both Tuttos (or actually, Tutti) by now, and both offer a slightly different ambience and décor, though the same good food. The downtown Tutto has a more cosmopolitan feel, with a huge bar spanning one room and the dining tables set up in the adjoining room. The Middleton Tutto is more rustic, with a smaller bar at the front of the restaurant showcasing its wines in a large inset wall. The seating area is in the very heart of the restaurant, and its walls depict hand-painted scenes of the Italian countryside.

I tend to favor the Middleton Tutto a bit more because parking is easier to find there. Plus, it has some really good daily happy hour deals, like half off of all appetizers from 4-7PM and 9-11PM, and of course the obligatory drink specials.

Last week, I was in the Middleton area so I stopped in for a quick bite to eat, with quick being a relative term here (no one hustles you out, so a meal can easily run 2 hours or more). I sat down at the bar and ordered a glass of Gavi, of Piedmont, one of the white wines available "on tap". While Tutto has an amazing assortment of Italian wines, the ones that can be bought by the glass are few. I noted that one of the things I must do when coming here in the future is to bring a friend so that I can finally crack into an entire wine bottle.