NVM Review

By Warren Rojas

Weekends are all about letting your problems melt away.

Saving a buck doesn’t hurt none either.

Pane e Vino fulfills both goals via their $9.99 lunch deal. Italian wedding soup washes away worries with each slurp of savory stock (crowded with meatballs, potatoes, cabbage and tomatoes). Pancetta, garlic and onions come together in a spicy ragout spooned over chubby rigatoni.

By Warren Rojas

For molto mozzarella bliss, begin with Pane’s inventive fried mozzarella appetizer ($8), which summons mini Monte Cristos of egg-brushed bread stuffed with mozzarella and deep-fried till golden brown. Then attack the pollo Florentine pie ($14), a brick-oven beauty heaping grilled chicken, spinach, broccoli and a generous layer of more mozzarella atop an ultra-crispy crust.