Piccolo Forno in Lawrenceville: Your Next Favorite Italian Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Think of the best Italian dinner or lunch you've ever had, and then head for 3801 Butler Street in Lawrenceville for Piccolo Forno. It will replace your previous favorite Italian restaurant in your memory.

In the funky Design Zone, the Antique District of Lawrenceville, you'll enjoy a bustling neighborhood downtown shopping area with several blocks of antique and art shops, flower stores, old-fashioned hardware and home stores, and more. Shop your heart out and work up an appetite for hearty, luscious Tuscan cuisine in generous proportions.

Outside Piccolo Forno, the façade of the building is reminiscent of yesteryear. You can claim a sidewalk table and enjoy your favorite cocktail or walk on in to the sunny, contemporary brick interior. When you notice the small size of the restaurant, you must realize that the menu choices here require great commitments of time and care. We're not talking your average Italian dishes here! These selections are masterpieces you'd seldom attempt at home. They are created here with bravissimo!

Imagine rolled crepes filled with spinach, paste of carrots, and red peppers smothered with a pesto cream sauce. Your Italian grandma's stuffed shells will pale in comparison, and if you don't think this is the best Tuscan entrée you've ever had . . . well, then you're not an aficionado! Just look at this beautiful dish in the photo, and you'll put Piccolo Forno on your list of places to dine in Pittsburgh. Called Rotolo Trecolori, it's as good as it looks.

The menu is huge, interesting, and different! Entrée selections include braised rabbit, braised boar, and lamb, duck or mushroom ragu. There are cannelloni-style crepes, potato gnocchi, and polenta. All those really difficult Italian dishes that you may have created with only reasonable satisfaction at home are perfecto here!

Even the pizza menu is mouth-watering and varied. It's absolutely fun to read, and you can do that here: http://www.piccolo-forno.com/

Note homemade soups, Tuscan bean salads, bruschetta, crostini, panini and everything Italian and delicious.

Our party of nine tried numerous selections with every course and were delighted with them all. "Oh, you've got to taste this!" we urged with every dish. One could say that Piccolo Forno is a tasting restaurant, because you'll want to share everything. It's just too good to keep to yourself. (Well, maybe you can talk the entire party into getting their owntiramisu!)

Venture out into Pittsburgh's ethnic districts. Neighborhood restoration projects and enterprising merchants have made them appealing places, worthy of your touring and shopping schedule. Lawrenceville is a neighborhood restored from another century. Enjoy tree-lined streets and savor Piccolo Forno.