il Trattoria di Merende

il Trattoria di Merende is a wonderful restaurant, but before you make reservations for tomorrow night you need to know one thing. Jeff Bishop and Ian and Julia Martin-Lombardi’s brand new place offers Italian rustic cuisine, not Italian-American food. You won’t be able to order overloaded platters of red sauced spaghetti and meatballs. Don’t ask for lasagna, pizza or stuffed shells. There’s no grated cheese shaker on the table, and you probably won’t go home with tomorrow’s lunch. Get over it.

The menu is, of course, Italian — flat breads, pasta and carne with special emphasis on small plates to be shared. They offer locally produced organic ingredients as much as possible inside a sleek decor with straw and terracotta colors, brick down the north side, blue backlit bar and modern lighting.

Merende’s small bite plates are designed to drive your taste buds wild. Warm mushroom risotto ($6) is so creamy it’s like a sauce. Other small bites include top-notch sautéed calamari calabrase, white bean salad and garlic seared white prawns.

Merende does serve tagliatelle with ragu alla bolognese ($16) but the dish is deep, complex, and delicious. We “oohed” and even “aahed” over the fig jam, Rogue Valley Gorgonzola and proscuitto served on a crackery flat bread ($12) — sweet, yes, but salty, too.

I composed my next dinner visit, Sicily’s eggplant dish Caponta and arugula and frissee salad followed by the Barolo beef short ribs. Be still my heart!

The wine list isn’t encyclopedic — what a relief! — but it contains such true gems from the 15 whites, 19 reds and 11 limited wines. We chose the Barolo “Castiglione” 2004. It sang an aria so moving it stopped our conversation mid sentence.

There’s room for the generally light desserts ($5-$7), but we skipped the seven items for a nightcap. I have my eye on the Caprese torta for next time. — Ron Swarner

[il Trattoria di Merende, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday, 4-11 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 4-10 p.m. Sunday-Monday, 813 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.722.1993]

Give it a shot

I’ve passed the “New Tequila Flights” sign outside the Matador several times this past month — but somehow I never made it inside for the new ride. Since the bar lists more than 100 tequilas, I felt compelled to try the añejo flight of Don Julio, Gran Centenario and Amate tequilas ($24, with four other tequila flights available) served on a wooden paddle — very similar to the one Neidermeyer used on Chip Diller in Animal House — with a chaser of red sangrita.

Nice.

I do think 100 tequilas is too many. Fifty tequilas is too many. Five is too many. In my barroom cosmos, there are only two varieties of the stuff: yellow-death flavor, and the good, clear white plata for when company comes over. — Brad Allen

[Matador, 721 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.627.7100]