I have to say that I usually find Italian restaurants boring and bland. Being of Italian heritage myself, I am spoiled into only liking my home cooking. However, my trip to this restaurant last night really impressed me. It looked like a well furnished house, with few tables, but it never became stuffy. There was a cute bar in the corner by the stairs with a couple of chairs, too.
We started with the squash blossoms and fried tomatoes. Both dishes had goat cheese that was fluffy and almost seemed whipped. The fried tomatoes were excellent. Perfectly fried with a balsamic glaze. The squash blossoms were definitely strange, but a good kind of strange. They were bitter and seemed to be fried in an egg batter.
My main dish was the Pici, which caught me off gaurd at first. The homemade pasta tasted similar to Udon noodles. The sauce had a very distinct and sweet lemon flavor to it. There was a pile of ricotta on top that I had to mix in. I had a bite of the zucchini polenta as well. The zucchini was served on a wooden board and the waitress came over with a steaming pot of polenta and poured it over the zucchini. So odd, very unique. Definitely not a normal italian restaurant. I will come again.
Update: I had an absolutely stellar pizza last night that bumped up Stagioli to five stars. They also apparently change their menu, which I very much can get behind. Wonderful added menu items!