New York born Alec Schuler is the chef at this local restaurant, which is located just off of highway 36, in the northern part Boulder, Colorado. Specializing in Italian food, with an emphasis on freshly made pasta, it has a rare combination of a casual, yet classy atmosphere and unpretentious, yet perfectly prepared food. On this evening, my wife and I had stopped in for a quick meal and opted to skip the pasta dishes and do a duo of appetizers and entries. Aside from an overtly spicy Seafood stew, all of the dishes were excellent, with a White Bean and Sausage Soup easily being my favorite.

As to the wine, we had a brilliant bottle of the 2009 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Chateauneuf du Pape. Showing the vintage profile beautifully, with its upfront and perfumed kirsch, garrigue, seaweed/brine and licorice aromas and flavors, it opened up beautifully over the evening. While there's enough structure here to keep this beauty drinking nicely for 15-20 years, it's no slouch now either and dished out plenty of pleasure on this evening.

If you're in Boulder, this is an excellent restaurant that, in addition to serving superb food, has a solid, reasonably priced wine list as well. It's certainly worth a stop.