Having recently returned from Italy, we have become pretty tough critics of Italian food in the States. We were pleasantly surprised by Scoozzi's. It is a large restauarant for New Haven, and it was full on Friday night. There were small candles on the tables and modern murals of food on the walls. There were all types of people there, and it was a bit loud for a nice restaurant.

The atmosphere and feel of this trattoria may be American, but the menu is incredibly Italian. They have a very broad selection of wines. Jason had an Italian red, and I had an Italian blush, and both were excellent. The menu is set up just like the Italian ones, and we started off with the salad of the night. It was made of fresh spinach leaves with red lettuce, blue cheese, and a lemon dressing. It was one of the most unique salads I've had, and we both loved it.

Jason's entree was the seafood stew, which wasn't really a stew at all. It was a selection of the largest and freshest seafood we've had in New Haven, stewing in a bit of cheesy tomato sauce. Jason ate it until he could eat no more. I had a very different dish, pork loin chops cooked with cherries. The pork chops were actually tender, very tender. A bite fell off of the bone when I first cut into it. The taste, as I mentioned, was a very creative one, but I enjoyed it. My pork came with potato ravioli that did not taste American at all and was *very* filling.

We decided to sample the desserts even though we were full, and the tiramisu was obviously Scoozzi's own interpretation. It looked like three scoops of ice cream on a plate, and it even had ice cream consistency. It was a bit too sweet for my taste. Jason had chocolate and hazlenut gelati which was encased in a cruchy chocolate shell. He ate every bite, even though he didn't think he could eat any. Overall, we would definitely recommend this restauraunt. We would also recommend trying something that you wouldn't find at the chain restaurants. These dishes are delicious!

Ratings 1-10 (10 is "divine" and 0 is "despicable")
AVERAGE: Food 8, Atmosphere 6.5, Service 9
Jason: Food 8, Atmosphere 6, Service 8
Mary: Food 8, Atmosphere 7, Service 10