Dopo

We ate at Dopo, a new italian eatery on Piedmont Ave across from Le CoCo's. I had read about the restaurant in Diablo Magazine and always wondered where it was. It was started by a former chef of Oliveto's.

We decided to take a couple of seats at the bar with a view of the open kitchen watching them bake pizzas.

On the menu:

-cheese plate with white nectarine and candied pecans
We're just suckers for cheese plates. I don't recall the names of the cheeses, but one was drier nuttier, another that tasted like a mild goat cheese, and another that had a bluecheese tartness and flavor. We're quite entertained figuring out which cheeses go with the nectarine or the candied pecans and how the white wine I got works with that.

-squid and mint on toast (there was a Italian name for this that I can't recall)
The squid was nice and tender by itself, but when you eat it with the toast underneath that soaked up all the sauce...simply yummy! The one square we got was just large enough to share and be utterly satisfied.

-mozzerella di buffula with garlic pizza
This is a no sauce pizza and that's no matter. The crust is just the right thin crispiness and chewiness. A simple dish, but delicious. It doesn't seem big (medium size), but it fills you surprisingly quickly, plus the flavor is memorably yummy.

-fregola with sanddabs
The hubby thought this was a bit salty, but he's not sure if that's because he doesn't eat as much salt anymore. It looked nice, but I didn't think the flavors and textures blended as well as they could have.

-vanilla bean gelato
Ubersweet! A disappointment after all the delicious food. I took a tiny taste and reached for the water.

-diplomatico (chocolate mousse)
This was excellent. Chocolately, velvety, not too sweet and a nice rich whipped cream.

The menu changes daily. This is more of the urban trendy Italian restaurant in contrast to the homey and what I would consider more traditional Italian restaurant of Le CoCo's across the street. The pizzas can be ordered to go, but you'll have to eat in for the antipasti. In general we felt it was a very good restaurant. Certainly come in early to get a seat inside, though they have heaters for the sidewalk tables. This restaurant in particular really makes Piedmont Ave feel more like College Ave except with slightly more parking as the alumni of Oliveto's are running out of room to start restaurants on College. We suspect the pizzas are a consistent winner, along with the starters menu. They have their wine menu listed on a map of Italy so for Italian wine newbies like us, we can start to get a sense of the different wine regions and their productions. We'll definitely come back again.