At Station North’s Orto, Italian food is guilt-free
Orto, meaning “vegetable garden” in Italian, opened in February in a cozy, plant-filled Station North spot formerly home to Colette and Bottega. The menu, hung in the window, is notable for what it’s missing: Familiar items like eggplant parm, spaghetti and pizza — all but required eating in most of Baltimore’s Italian restaurants — are nowhere to be found.
Instead, chef Stefano Porcile, who helped open Colette and worked at Bottega when it was on Maryland Avenue, charts a riskier course. He aims to offer slightly lighter fare than is served at other restaurants. He doesn't want you grabbing for the Tums when you leave.
Start off with conservas ($5), which include pickled vegetables like mushrooms in vinegar and roasted rainbow carrots. They’re kept in jars in the dining room, and staff spoon them out into little bowls. It’s a light snack, perfect with a cocktail, that leaves room for the dishes to come.
As for cocktails: My companions enjoyed the Melancholia, made with absinthe and rosemary, and the By Jove, which incorporates an Italian liqueur made from green walnuts. All cocktails are $13.
The menu is divided into three courses — piccolo, medio and principale. The beet plate ($13), a piccolo, is unmissable. Garnished with watermelon radishes and parsley, it was as delectable to look at as it was to eat. You’ll want to ask for bread to soak up the pistachio cream beneath it.
To novices, the castelfranco and treviso salad ($14), with its brilliant, purple radicchio, could