Caffe Mingo

[October 17th, 2007] 807 NW 21st Ave., 226-4646. Dinner nightly. $$ Moderate.

This sharply tailored place, with its black awnings and amber-colored walls, has the buzz of a Brooklyn Italian cafe and the menu to back it up. Michael Cronin’s Mingo has been a consistent purveyor of simple European fare for years, and a recent visit shows that the place isn’t coasting on its reputation. Greens are paired with perfect dressings, the pasta comes in both basic (Margherita-style) and more eclectic varieties (try the linguine with shrimp, peppers, garlic and toasted bread crumbs), and a halibut dish with sweet cream vegetable sauce was simply the best pesci I’ve had in a restaurant all year. (MZ)

Signature Dish: Housemade pasta and risotto.

Standouts: Mingo salad with Romano cheese, breadcrumbs and lemon garlic dressing.

Regrets: The “housemade” lamb sausage sure doesn’t taste like it.