The owner of Acadia at College and Clinton has decided to take the restaurant in a different direction. Recently Red Sauce opened as a casual, wallet-friendly, Italian-American diner. I dropped by on Saturday to check out the new digs.
Gone were the white linen and whimsical paintings. Sturdy benches and tables have been put in, along with 1950s-style prints including a dapper gentleman shouting "Hey Paisano!" The menu was about finger foods and sandwiches, with the daily pasta listed on an old Coca-Cola signboard. When my appetizer arrived, the hit of hot oil and melted cheese was an instant flashback to Eastside Mario's and its ilk. But the food was much better than that.
The smell came from the garlic knots ($4). Freshly fried dough covered with cheese, it had a crunchy exterior and a soft inside. The two-bite pieces were quite addictive. I also ordered a knuckle sandwich ($12 for the hero size). Luckily, no punch to the face. The "knuckle" was the meat, pigs' trotters cooked off the bone, then panko fried. Then it was stuffed inside soft Italian bread with tomato sauce, rapini, and banana peppers ($1.50). Despite its rich appearance, the sandwich was light instead of sitting heavy in the belly. The meat was moist and the combination of bitter rapini and tangy sauce balanced each other out. The little bit of spice from the peppers completed the flavour. This was an excellent take on "friendly" food, showing effort from the kitchen where you might expect lazy cooking.
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