Restaurant Review

Nonna Gina’s Italian Restaurant

Rinaldo “Reno” Lanzillotti and partner Julie Renfro have opened Nonna Gina’s in the second block of historic buildings in beautiful downtown Buda. Lanzillotti is originally from Mil­an, did time at Mezzaluna, and also had his own fresh pasta store on South Congress called Bottega Della Pasta. He dropped off of the culinary radar for a while but has now resurfaced, and we are glad he did. Nonna Gina’s is a homey little casual space, with red and beige walls, an Italian hillside mural, and some hand-painted glass panels over the door. It seats about 40, with a bar on one side. While it’s not exactly an open kitchen, you can see what’s going on in back if your angle is right, and Lanzillotti makes a habit of cruising the floor.

From the numerous pizza selections, we settled on the bianca ($15), a 14-inch hand-tossed pizza with a fresh, thin crust which is nicely charred on the bottom and golden-brown around the edges. It lies somewhere between a thin, cracker-style and a slightly thicker, yeasty-style dough; quite foldable once it has cooled a tad. It’s topped with bianca sauce, fresh spinach, chunks of moist roasted chicken, crisp bacon pieces, red onion, and mozzarella. We loved it, though we thought it benefited from a light drizzle of Nonna Gina’s wonderful garlicky oil that’s placed on the table, used for dipping the crusty peasant bread. There seemed to be a fairly steady stream of locals, regulars if the overheard conversations are correct, dropping in to pick up pizzas to go.

We opted to split a bowl of the day’s special soup: cream of sweet red pepper ($4.50). It came out in a crock-style bowl with a handle, the rosy top bubbling from a trip to the oven. The base seems to be chicken stock with some pureed potato, with lots of pureed, fire-roasted red pepper. Once it cooled off a little, the flavors really began to develop, and we found it quite enjoyable with a little squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of Parmesan. Sausages with polenta ($10) came next: two large house-made Italian sausages that have been sautéed with onions, peppers, and garlic so that they became nicely caramelized. The sausages are richly flavored, with a nice snap to the casing. The mélange rests atop two good-sized triangles of sautéed polenta, full of rich corn flavor and so light they could have been your grandmother’s finest version of airy spoon bread – a stellar combination of tastes.

For a pasta, we chose the special of penne Bolognese ($8). What arrived was a large bowl of penne with chicken in a Gorgonzola cream sauce with rosemary ($11). We of course knew the difference but decided to sneak a taste before we sent it back for the correct dish. It was so good we decided to keep it and play like we meant to order it all along. Perfectly al dente penne is bathed in a rich, aromatic sauce perfectly bolstered with Gorgonzola. This is an assertive cheese that is so easy to overdo in a cream sauce, but Nonna Gina’s does it just right. Pieces of moist chicken, subtle rosemary, sweet red onion, and a light spiciness from crushed pepper round out the taste. Excellent.

The chicken Marsala ($13.50) was really good, though it suffered from sauce shortage. The chicken breast is lightly breaded, moist, and very tender, topped with a nice cremini mushroom and Marsala sauce; we just wished we had more. On the side is a large portion of excellent capellini, topped with a crudo tomato sauce, thinly sliced garlic, and shaved Parmesan – simple and really good.

For desserts, we tried both the tiramisu ($5) and the cannoli ($4). The tiramisu is served in a stemmed glass, topped with mascarpone custard flavored with vanilla and rum. It has a sabayonlike texture with chocolate garnish, covering an espresso-soaked cookie. The rum dominates too much for my taste, but I can certainly understand the moans coming from surrounding tables that were eating it. The cannoli shell appears to be house-made and is a delight, while the ricotta filling isn’t too sweet, and the chocolate drops and pistachio garnish push it well into the pleasure zone.

Another trip had me eating a wonderful crisp Greek salad with red onion, cucumber, tomato, olives, feta, romaine, and herb dressing ($4/$7), and the lasagna Bolognese ($13.50), a large portion of layered pasta, rich meaty Bolognese sauce, béchamel sauce, and three cheeses (Romano, mozzarella, Parmesan) – definitely some of the better lasagna being served in the Austin area.

Nonna Gina’s is exactly the kind of restaurant that we need more of, whether it’s in Austin or Buda. Rustic food with big taste, prepared authentically and at a fair price, in a comfortable and casual setting. It’s Italian, it’s friendly, and it’s good!

This article appears in May 8 • 2009.