Tre Piani

The focus here is on having a good time, and enjoying Jim Weaver’s extensive and imaginative menu.

By: Kate and Tom O’Neill
    Diners entering Tre Piani
get an exuberant welcome from maitre d’ Giancarlo Squitieri. The good feeling
he conveys about the meal to come is reinforced by the airy, smartly decorated
dining room, where a wine rack soars 15 feet above the bar and a pleasant buzz
of conversation rises from the tables. Slowly turning ceiling fans, plants around
the bar and rows of white, louvered shutters create a leisurely, tropical ambience.

Tre Piani

120 Rockingham Row

Forrestal Village

Plainsboro

(609) 452-1515

www.trepiani.com

Food: Excellent

Service: Well-trained, friendly

Cuisine: Italian Mediterranean

Vegetarian and Vegan Options: Imaginative choices throughout menu


Atmosphere: Comfortable, smart

Prices: Antipasti, appetizers, salads $7-$18; pastas $16-$25; entrées
$24-$37; sides $6-$8; desserts $9-$12

Hours: Lunch: Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Dinner: Mon.-Thurs.
5:30-9:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5-10 p.m.

Essentials: Accepts most major credit cards; wheelchair accessible;
liquor license; large parking lot; excellent Web site.

Directions

    Chef/owner Jim Weaver’s menu is both extensive and imaginative, and the kitchen delivers on the promise of the menu’s descriptions, with their emphasis on fresh, often local, ingredients. Service is friendly and casual — refilling our wine glasses was left to us after the initial pour, and that’s all right. The focus is on enjoying the food and wine and having a good time.
    The wine list includes 17 good choices for less than $40/bottle, with 57 red wines and 34 whites. We chose and enjoyed the Geografica Pietravalle ($32), a Vernaccia with hints of citrus and pineapple. We enjoyed it so much that the bottle was empty when our entrées arrived. The irrepressible Mr. Squitieri opened a bottle of an even fruitier and more buttery Vernaccia, a Falchini 2004, and served it by the glass at a reasonable price ($8.50).
    The long Italian-influenced menu offers five cold appetizers ($10-$23) including beef carpaccio and oysters from the Delaware Bay. The six hot appetizers ($10-$14) include sautéed prawns with homemade chorizo ($14). Alternatively, the meal might begin with one of nine salads ($7-$18), including a Caesar salad or a crabmeat and avocado salad with tomato and cilantro lime dressing. A dozen pasta dishes ($16-$25) are available, either as a pasta course or as the principal dish of the evening. (Although the menu does not mention it, the pasta dishes are available as half portions for those who would like a course between the appetizer and the entrée.)
    We tasted three appetizers. In the endive salad ($10), each leaf is sliced into long, thin strips and tossed with mellow blue cheese, roasted pecans and perfect grapes, then dressed with a tangy-sweet balsamic vinaigrette made from the famously dulcet muscat grape. Plump mussels ($10) were pan-roasted in cream sauce with a generous handful of chopped prosciutto. The characteristic sea-born flavor of the shellfish blended harmoniously with the velvety sauce, accented by assertively salty prosciutto.
    In Italy, panzanella salad is traditionally a humble dish that provides a tasty use for day-old bread. In Mr. Weaver’s hands, this stand-by evolves into the outstanding Garden State panzanella seafood salad ($16), created to highlight New Jersey’s local seafood. This version features littleneck clams, scallops and calamari sautéed with garlic and fennel overflowing from a cylinder of garlicky bread, served over a bed of tomato, cucumber and basil. The seafood was lightly cooked, and the tender, thin-sliced tomato tasted summer-fresh, even though autumn was far advanced at the time of our visit.
    The 11 regular entrees ($24-$37) are supplemented by specials, each featuring fresh, largely local ingredients. Tuna steak ($32) is seared on the grill and topped with spicy crab salad, avocado and a fine-sliced tomato, as fresh as the one in the panzanella salad. The crab salad was extraordinary, the crabmeat fresh and sweet, the spicy dressing balanced by a creamy sauce filled with slices of well ripened avocado. Veal rollatini alla saltimbocca ($27) was served with sautéed spinach and potatoes. Sliced thin and pounded flat, the veal was rolled around a slice of prosciutto, with extra flavor lent by crumbled sage.
    Polenta with pan-roasted quail ($25), listed with pastas, featured two quail, halved, arrayed around a formidable mound of polenta that was topped by a daub of mascarpone cheese, with toasted pecans and cranberry on the side. The quail were from the nearby Griggstown Farm, roasted brown and juicy. Don’t be shy: pick them up and eat them with your fingers.
    Desserts modify familiar dishes with delectable results. Tiramisu ($9) is not the traditional version of the dessert, but a cylinder about 2 inches across. Espresso-
soaked sponge cake serves as the base for a layer of mascarpone and whipped cream enhanced by a touch of marsala wine. Light and intriguing, this tiramisu is a welcome variation on a familiar theme. Dense melted chocolate ($12) made rich and sweet with eggs and sugar and served in and over a pastry of phyllo dough is Tre Piani’s sophisticated and delicious take on the currently popular molten chocolate cake. Espresso ($3) never had a better partner.
    "Tre Piani" means three floors in Italian. The restaurant at one time distinguished between the menu in its dining room, on the second level, and its bistro on the first floor. But now the same menu is available in both areas. Mr. Weaver plans an addition: a wine bar that will offer not just wine but a selection of small plates for diners. We look forward to visiting as soon as it opens.