Café Colore

There’s something for everyone at this popular Italian destination, where creativity and moderate prices reign.

By: Antoinette Buckley
   Located in the South Brunswick Square Shopping Center on Route 1 in Monmouth Junction, Café Colore is a definite crowd-pleaser. Within its comfortably conservative atmosphere, it offers consistently good Italian food at moderate prices.
   The menu at Café Colore suits the restaurant perfectly. It is relatively compact compared to other restaurants of its kind, listing a manageable number of options within each category. Selections are a desirable mix of creativity and reliability. Commendably, Café Colore does not overdo the menu; abundance is left to the portions.

   Café Colore is widely appealing. It is the right fit for an intimate dinner for two as well as a family gathering of 20. Children of all ages do well here. Even the finicky eater is sure to find a match either from the children’s menu, the regular menu or some combination of both. If chosen from the regular menu, the restaurant will provide a child’s portion at a reduced price. The space is forgiving as a bubbly buzz of conversation fills the room, putting both parents and children at ease. Service is competent and very accommodating. Although service was slow on the busy Friday evening of our visit, our server’s mindfulness compensated for any delays. He was forward-thinking and brought extra side plates with every course to facilitate all the sharing that was going on at our table.
   Café Colore has been going strong for three and a half years and has recently expanded, adding a new dining room off the main one and a pizzeria that adjoins the restaurant. The expanded dining room is situated behind the pizzeria and, unfortunately, an open doorway mixes the two worlds in a distracting way. This glitch aside, the space is unassumingly pleasant with lights down to a comfortable low, white linens covering the tables, and framed prints of paintings done by famous artists like Picasso and Van Gogh. It’s all rather basic feeling, leaving the focus on the food.
   Dishes tend to have a lot of substance. Even the salads come with a level of augmentation. Arugula salad ($9) with a tangy lemon vinaigrette is delightfully beefed up with roasted red peppers, prosciutto, pignoli nuts and shavings of provolone cheese. The warm balsamic salad ($9) comes highly recommended by co-owner Steve Smith. Among other things, Mr. Smith raves about the soups that his partner and head chef, German Delafuente, puts out. Indeed, his Italian wedding soup ($3.50) with tiny meatballs, pearls of pasta and escarole is quite good.
   Appetizers are also hearty. The bulky mozzarella en carroza ($6) is classic comfort food that hits the spot when you are really hungry. Ciabatta bread is stuffed with cheese, dipped in egg, fried, and covered with tomato sauce. Not exactly a work of culinary art, but the dish is what it’s supposed to be. A special appetizer of the evening featuring a generous serving of steamed mussels in a tomato basil broth comes with more finesse. The savory broth with pieces of sweet tomato and flecks of basil is the main attraction and makes for superb mussel and bread dipping. In general, pieces of garlic are aggressively tossed into dishes. Café Colore is not alone in this garlic frenzy. Chopped garlic runs rampant in the dishes of America’s Italian restaurant kitchens, and often unnecessarily so. At Café Colore most dishes are flavorful enough without copious amounts of garlic that in the end become interference.
   Cream sauces escape the overuse of garlic. Farfalle calabrese ($14) satisfies the palate, stomach, and soul as bowtie pasta mingles with prosciutto, mushrooms and peas within a blanket of silky Alfredo sauce. Seafood champagne ($21) bursts with shrimp (without the shells), scallops and chunks of salmon amid a large tangle of linguine coated with a mild champagne cream sauce. You may be smitten with this dish initially, but it is more one-dimensional than most other dishes.
   While most dishes please and often come with lovely nuggets of interest, every so often there is a surprising weak spot. Penne cream pesto ($14) is green, but virtually flavorless.
   Café Colore brings out the best in the raviolis that are supplied by Lucy’s Ravioli Kitchen. Artichoke and sun dried tomato ravioli ($15) are sautéed with portabella mushrooms, roasted red peppers and lots of artichokes in a tasty white wine sauce sparked with fresh flakes of parsley.
   From the House Specialties section of the menu, stuffed chicken Francaise ($18) perks up an old favorite. The traditional egg battered chicken is taken to the next level with a stuffing of prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. The dish comes with roasted potatoes and a vegetable, although substituting that for angel hair pasta makes a winning complement.
   Dessert is more standard than exceptional. The cannoli ($4) is done well. The chocolate torte ($6) is presented artfully with a cloud of whipped cream, a scoop of raspberry sorbet and a sprig of mint, while chocolate, raspberry and caramel sauces swirl around the plate. It is luscious, but borders on too sweet. For the child with a sophisticated palate, however, it is dreamy.
   Café Colore walks the line well. It is mainstream, yet sophisticated. It is moderate, yet interesting. It welcomes all and displeases none.