Applausi Osteria Toscana

Upscale but comfortable and really nice food!  Great service and excellent menu.  Wonderful bread and oil.  We enjoyed the tuna tartar, buffalo mozzarella app, lobster ravioli and the La Cotoletta Capricciosa (
breaded veal cutlet topped with arugola, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella).  We enjoyed a bottle of wine with it.

Move over Morello's, we have a new favorite Italian restaurant. The fresh homemade pasta here is amazing. Linguine vongole had the smaller more fragrant clams in their shells, tasty white sauce. Lobster and crab ravioli was divine in a creamy red sauce. Much more low key than Morello and I dare say the food is better! Nice wine list, not overwhelming.

We came in for Saturday night dinner on my wife's birthday, after a wonderful day at Old Greenwich beach. So expectations were high, and it being Saturday, i was a bit nervous. No need to worry. You should go eat here - go - now.

The space is warm and comfy and I was quietly assured they had birthday covered. The staff was friendly and very efficient on this busy night.

The bread was warm and fresh, and we kicked off dinner with a pair of terrific appetizers. My wife had the special pasta (appetizer sized) with a terrific pesto, while I scarfed down the ahi tuna carpaacio. Mmmm.

Our wine choice was a medium bodied red from the owners home provine of Puglia, a perfect accompaniment to my perfectly done al dente pasta with shrimp, capers and parmesano. My wife loved the thin and tender veal with eggplant and mozzarella. The wine list was a bit pricey (about 2.5x retail), but had good depth and geographic range.

The birthday Tiramisu and candle was accompanied by a reaonably in tune rendition delivered by the whole staff!

Overall a very nice spot,  and left us wishing it was less than an hour away!