Best Italian restaurant
As it's translated - "crazy way" - the name is, well, a bit misleading. Indeed, owned by the seasoned team of Michael Schlow and Christopher Myers and helmed by able Schlow protégé Luis Morales, Via Matta might better be dubbed Via Soave, as it takes us down a smooth, sure path to culinary bliss. In the elegantly simple, tan-on-white setting, we find ourselves strangely willing to try things we'd be sure to shun elsewhere: whipped salt cod, stuffed rabbit, even acqua cotta ("cooked water" - actually a hearty stew). As for more familiar fare, we're all over the chitarra, fresh noodles cut on what looks like a fingerboard (hence the name); the shellfish stew called cacciucco; and semifreddo, a sort of cross between ice cream and custard. With steady hands guiding us, the way hardly seems wacky - it seems inevitable. If ever there was a place that should be named Crazy Way, Vinny's at Night is it. The storefront-less red-sauce joint is "located," if that's the right word, in East Somerville - who even knew Somerville had sides? - at the back of a neighborhood market. Fortunately, the confusion ends there: Vinny's menu is a snap to negotiate. The first no-brainer is an antipasto table the likes of which you'll rarely see outside of Southern Italy. The second is the deservedly much-touted roast pork chop with peppers in vinegar-sauce, served with a side of homemade pasta. And the third - if you can stomach it, no pun intended - is the tripe ... but basta said. We trust you've got the brains to order for yourself.

Via Matta, 79 Park Plaza, Boston, (617) 422-0008, www.viamattarestaurant.com; Vinny's at Night, 76 Broadway, Somerville, (617) 628-1921.