New neighborhood, same friendly faces

The new Café Stellina has acquired the trappings of sophisticated urban dining — a menu of upscale American comfort food, white napery, handsome bamboo-inspired tableware and stemless goblets for the imported soda or wine of your choice. But deep down, this mom-and-pop shop has the soul of a neighborhood diner.

When Teri Esensten and Mike Cicon opened the original Café Stellina four years ago in the Central District, it was a coffeehouse with six tables and a small fridge tucked under the counter. They started serving lunch but were too nervous to hire anyone else, so Esensten decided to cook, even though, like her husband, her many years of restaurant experience had all been spent in the front of the house.

Two months ago, Café Stellina moved to Capitol Hill, the first tenant to occupy the new Piston & Ring Building, a 1920s-era garage that is, in fact, still being noisily overhauled. The restaurant has more than doubled in size and Esensten operates from an open kitchen that boasts a double-wide refrigerator and two ranges. She wisely sticks to what she calls "her range." Her food may be simple, but it's well prepared and beautifully presented.

Breakfast might be a bagel with house-cured salmon ($9), a bowl of granola with yogurt and fruit ($7) or a cheddar-topped hominy, tomato and green-chili stew ($11).

Pastry chef Robin Reiels supplies the sweet and savory scones, pastries and coffee cake ($3); the puff pastry for the caramelized-onion and goat-cheese tart ($10); and the dough for breakfast pizzas topped with eggs, roasted potatoes and your choice of cheddar and prosciutto ($8) or salmon ($10).

The soft potato bread hails from Macrina Bakery. It comes gratis with creamy hummus at lunch, when the short menu includes soup, salads, sandwiches, a quiche of the day and several entrees. No dish costs more than $14, and many are meatless.

The daytime clientele here is more sedate than you typically see in this trendy Pike-Pine corridor, perhaps because the well-spaced tables make this a comfortable venue for conversation or a business lunch. Dinner might be an option soon, says Esensten, but not till after the first of the year.

Check please:

Pea and tarragon soup: A spoonful of crème fraîche is a smooth, tangy counterpoint to the brilliant-green, thickly pureed soup flavored judiciously with tarragon but a little in need of salt. So bountifully portioned, it's a meal on its own.

Smoked chicken sausage with lentils: Cut on the diagonal, the sausages reveal veins of sun-dried tomato, and you get a little heat along with the smoke. These are great companions for the tiny green lentils, flecked with onion and carrot, kissed with vinegar and adorned with salty ricotta salata cheese. Baby arugula with balsamic completes the plate.

Shrimp with lima bean and corn ragout: Half-a-dozen medium-size shrimp benefit from a zesty spice rub before being pan-seared in butter. They are set over a sort of succotash, a delicious mélange of firm lima beans and corn simmered with onion and red pepper. Balsamic-dressed spinach rims the plate.

Mixed green salad: Herbed balsamic vinaigrette moistens the field greens garnished with a crostini topped with Kalamata olive "jam."

Pear and sour-cherry coffee cake: Roasted pears both sweeten and moisten this dense, delicious 4-inch wedge of cake, studded with sour cherries and crowned with crumbly streusel.

Itemized bill, meal for two

Pea and tarragon soup $5.00

Smoked chicken sausage with lentils $14.00

Shrimp with lima bean and corn ragout $13.00

Mixed green salad $5.00

Coffee cake $3.00

Coffee $1.00

Tax $3.81

Total $44.81

Providence Cicero: providencecicero@aol.com