Brunello At 27 On Fourth

Brunello cooks veal with more range than most Italian kitchens attempt. The medallions turn up sautéed with marsala and mushrooms, brightened with lemon and capers over roasted potatoes, layered under prosciutto, bufala mozzarella, and sage for a saltimbocca alla Romana, or sauced with capers, garlic, and tomato beside gnocchi gorgonzola. The kitchen also braises a whole shank to the bone for an ossobuco bedded on pappardelle. That fluency with a single cut signals what this dinner house on Fourth Street East is after — Italian cooking with a Tuscan accent, set down in the heart of Collingwood's heritage district.

A meal here tends to open wide. The antipasti run from a beef carpaccio under arugula, capers, white truffle oil, and shaved asiago to venison meatballs with porcini in a marsala sauce, P.E.I. mussels steamed in marinara or white wine, and a rustico board of salami, prosciutto, melon, artichokes, and buffalo mozzarella built for the table to share. Salads carry the same care: arugula with fennel, oranges, and walnuts; a house Insalata Brunello of mixed greens, roasted red peppers, goat cheese, grapes, and walnuts; a Caesar finished with crispy prosciutto rather than left plain. A scampi fra diavola in spicy tomato with pesto and capers and an Italian lentil soup round out a starter list with plenty to graze across.