Sweet, meaty crab cakes came with crunchy coleslaw, and a casserole of shrimp baked in a scallop shell was pungent with fresh oregano.
It rests on a casserole of white beans in a luscious, fluffy mustard cream sauce.
Some dishes were merely pleasant, and a few were unappealing, including a stringy casserole of salt cod and an overcooked and strangely sour hamburger.
This and other terrific pizzas are made in the wood-burning oven, which is also the source of fine baked dishes like a casserole of wild mushrooms served in a crock with arugula, goat cheese, olives, tomatoes and mozzarella.
Dinner brings the opportunity to share a soul-warming casserole of curried oxtail or a platter of irregular, springy e-fu noodles with fat mushrooms.
I was not as crazy about a casserole of wheat gluten and mushrooms ($9.95), a very beige dish that tastes as dull as it looks.
Bibimbop ($11), a casserole of rice and vegetables served in a stone crock, is fresh, light and delicate, sprinkled with ground beef almost as a savory accent rather than a centerpiece.
A lovely crust had formed on a casserole of stubby paccheri pasta and plump veal meatballs in a smooth béchamel "à la vodka".
A lovely crust had formed on a casserole of stubby paccheri pasta and plump veal meatballs in a smooth béchamel "à la vodka". The flesh of a wood-roasted branzino was delicate and moist under its crackly skin.
But the notion of a Greek pastitsio, a layered casserole of macaroni, tomatoes and ground beef baked with a béchamel topping (using lobster in place of the meat), took hold, and there was no turning back.
