Toscanos

Great food, affordable wines

By Volcano Staff on November 1, 2007

Located in a Puyallup business park, Toscanos Café and Wine Bar pleasantly surprises. Walking through the adjacent office building lobby, the scents of garlic and herbs beckon.

The interior is a study in warm earth tones. High ceilings with exposed ductwork lend an urban feel while a river rock fireplace brings it back to home. White table cloths provide a backdrop for gleaming silverware, bulbous wine glasses and rust and corn colored linen napkins.



Padded chairs, booths and benches make it easy to stay awhile.



My server, Janelle, was attentive without being intrusive.



Toscanos Café and Wine Bar offers both lunch and dinner menus. Lunch is a selection of salads, Panini sandwiches, pasta dishes and full-fledged entrees. The 6-ounce lunch steak covered in sautéed mushrooms tops out the pricing at $14.95 while salads are very reasonable in portion size and pricing from $4.95 to $9.95. Toscanos allows salad customizing by offering add-on sides of grilled chicken, sautéed prawns, grilled ahi, tenderloin and salmon for an additional cost. This is a smart way to get exactly the type of protein with your greens that you’re craving.



The Toscanos signature salad ($4.95) consists of mixed lettuce greens, sweet, toasted hazelnuts with a caramelized shell, tomato wedges, plump tart dried cranberries drizzled with raspberry balsamic vinaigrette that balanced sweetness and herb nicely. Topped with three large garlic and herb sautéed prawns, the medium-sized salad satisfied my hunger nicely.

Not to be forgotten, Toscanos wine list is impressive yet accessible. Take in the Sunday Sommelier, a wine menu featuring many bottles for under $20.



Dinner mirrors lunch with an expansion of options, larger portions and higher prices, again topping out at the 10-ounce filet mignon $29.95. Four chicken entrees, seven pasta dishes and a couple of seafood items and three for the red-meat lovers all vie for attention.



Owner/Chef Tom Pantley shares that November is guest appreciation month with four different nights. The focus of these promotional evenings is both on creative cocktails and delicious foods; learn to cook a traditional Italian holiday meal (Nov. 18) or sample Santa’s Little Helpers — a bevy of cocktails to ease holiday stress (Nov. 20).



[Toscanos Café and Wine Bar, 437 29th St. N.E., Puyallup, 253.864.8600]