Il Monistro (The little monster)

Deb and Mike shared cheese/artichoke heart/olives/cold meat platter. Debbie and Jeff did, also. Mike had good minestrone, beef cutlets. Deb & Jeff had pasta stuffed with ricotta and pear- good, but didn’t taste pear. Deb finished with insalata. Debbie had spaghetti with sausage and red sauce that she really liked and insalata. Our wine, Brunello di Montalcino Banfi 2002, was very good. The wine was decanted and served with a flourish. Cork was tucked into ring of foil at bottle top after opening. Service was very good. The "little monster" was the chef. His son, the only English speaker, took orders and served the wine. Another server didn’t speak English, but was very competent and nice. Ate inside, but there were outside tables that looked out to the street. Visited with 4 women from U.S. at next table. Good service, good wine, pretty good food.