Giulia Restaurant in Cambridge, MA http://www.giuliarestaurant.com is the real deal; all Italian cuisine, both the food and the wine. Roseann and I had a most enjoyable dining experience at Giulia’s this evening. We ate at the bar because reservations are not available until one month from today. The restaurant opens at 5:30; a line forms shortly after 5:00 in order to get one of the 20 bar seats which are not reserved.

For an appetizer we had a Sardinia flatbread with creamy white bean sauce and nduja sausage and pecorino. Nduja is a spicy sausage from Calabria. For main courses we had ricotta gnocchi with wild hair cacciatore and pappardelle with wild boar. For dessert we had toasted olive oil cake with chamomile gelato, honey poached quince and blood orange; and warm almond torta with roasted apples, almond praline and gelato.

We enjoyed a bottle of Ragis from Le Vigne di Raito with dinner. We had a difficult decision to make for the wine because in addition to Le Vigne di Raito’s wine, Giulia’s wine list also includes wines from two other of our friends; Reale and Casa di Baal.

The pasta is all home made; the wines are all from Italy and the wine director, Trevor, goes to Italy each year in search of wines to add to his wine menu.  Giulia’s is as authentic to an Italian experience one can experience in the USA. Bravo!