Il Fornaio is a restaurant chain featuring fresh bread baked on the premises, pizza, pasta, and Italian food. I've been to a number in Southern California, and last week, I tried the Il Fornaio on Pine Street in Seattle. I like Il Fornaio; the food is reliably good, and they tend to have very high quality desserts. I tend to have to be careful about the foccacio and olive oil they serve to nibble on while you peruse the menu; it's fresh and very very good, and it would be very easy to eat too much. I've gone with a small group of friends several times; it's fun to order several of Il Fornaio's fresh-made hand-tossed thin crust pizza, baked in a stone oven, and share. I'm partial to two in particular: Pizza Margherita, which is the usual Mozzarella, oregano, tomato sauce, and fresh basil, and the Pizza Vegetariana, with Mozzarella, tomato sauce, sautéed artichokes, zucchini, eggplant, sliced fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, and fresh basil. They reliably use fresh herbs and vegetables, and the pizzas are, of course, all individually made.

Il Fornaio also serves traditional Italian appetizers, which are generous sized portions and very much designed to be shared. The pasta is fresh, and they're quite willing to make small adjustments to suit individual taste. They make their own Ravioli on site, and it's very good. I've had specials a few times with hand-made crab-stuffed ravioli, or ravioli with local artisan cheeses. They also offer freshly made soups, and a variety of salads; the salads are very much enough for a meal.

I mentioned the desserts; Il Fornaio is very much the sort of place that it's worth stopping buy just for dessert. The on-site bakery in Seattle also made the desserts; the night we were there they had a lovely creme brulee, and a particularly luscious flourless chocolate cake. They generally have tiramisu, as well as several chocolate based desserts, and at least one fruit-based sweet. Most Il Fornaios have a small counter off to one side where you can pick up a couple loaves of their artisan-baked bread, a dessert, their own olive oil and imported dried pasta, and fresh rather amazing biscotti made on site, and take them home with you.

Il Fornaio is currently offering a Festa Regionale, a monthly virtual tour of regional Italian cuisine, which looks like a lot of fun.The most interesting detail about the Seattle Il Fornaio for me was that the menu featured Washington and Oregon wines. I'm planning to go back with friends, order several appetizers to share, and try a few wines from their list that I've not yet tried, followed by dessert.