Four Brothers Cucina

The pasta at Four Brothers Cucina is made in the kitchen rather than pulled from a box, and the menu is built to let a diner taste the difference. Homemade lasagna layers pasta sheets with meat sauce and cheese and bakes to a bubbling finish. Gnocchi arrives under a red-pepper cream. Spinach-and-cheese ravioli sits in marinara, and rigatoni con salsiccia pairs spicy sausage with white wine, cream, and peas. This is classic Italian cooking done without shortcuts, in a Niagara Falls dining room that has been doing it the same way since 1964.

The dinner card reads like a tour of the standards, each plate specific enough to order with confidence. Veal and chicken parmigiana come breaded under mozzarella with a side of pasta. Osso buco is braised veal in a tomato broth deglazed with red wine. Seafood risotto folds assorted seafood into tomato-based carnaroli rice, and spaghetti arrives with homemade meatballs in tomato sauce. Starters set the table the same way — an antipasto for two of meat, cheese, giardiniera, and olives; salsiccia with greens and beans; a tomato-based minestrone thick with local vegetables. Dessert holds the line with ricotta-stuffed Sicilian cannoli and a housemade tiramisu of coffee, mascarpone, and ladyfingers.