If you're a wine connoisseur, you'll love the wine list; there's more than 160 selections, a list that is growing so fast that it's hard even for the menu to keep up. The restaurant has a wood oven that allows the chef to generate an intensity of flavors you can't get in a traditional gas oven. "The smoke and the aromas of the oven just go into the food," says chef Dan Carr. "The heat and the smoke does something to a tomato sauce that you can't just get the flavor of any other way."

Most of the dishes are classic Italian, but with a Northwest-American bent to it -- smoked seafood and seafood entries. And it's real Italian -- only using true Parma Prosciutto, Parmagiano Reggiano (aged parmasan cheese), Pancietta bacon (salt-dried cured, not smoked) and veal and chicken stocks all prepared on the premises. Visconti's also does special events and in-house catering on parties up to 20.

What's really good: Actually, it's all good, but if you want to get an idea of what that wood oven is capable of, try the Cioppino -- it's a seafood-and-tomato stew with clams, muscles, scallops, halibut, salmon, shrimp. When it comes out of the wood oven, the parts of the seafood that were sticking up out of the broth will be baked, giving it a rich flavor that's hard to describe. And although it's not a steakhouse, Visconti's does carry three prime-grade choices of steak (tenderloin, ribeye and top sirloin), a rare treat for meat lovers.

If you're there for lunch, you can't go wrong with any of the meal salads -- and trust us, they're definitely a full meal. They're huge. You will never leave Visconti's still hungry.