La Rondinella is light on the wallet, big on unique Italian flavors

One of the most important parts of my job is to find the good values hidden among the hype of the Detroit dining scene and then faithfully report them to you.

"Would I come back on my own time and dime?"

That's one of the core questions I ask when reviewing any restaurant.

When it comes to La Rondinella, my answer is a resounding "Yes!"

Supino Pizzeria impresario Dave Mancini's new Eastern Market Italian joint punches well above its weight class, offering thoughtful Northern Italian-style fare for Olive Garden prices.

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Value like this doesn't come along often.

“I want it to be a place where you can have a nice dish and a beer, or a glass of wine if you want it, and get out for $20, with a tip,” Mancini told the Free Press in December, before a well-publicized stutter over required city documents forced the restaurant to close just as it was getting going.

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Five months since its official opening in January, La Rondinella is a thoughtful, continually evolving hit, offering a distinctively lighter style of Italian cuisine than Detroit is used to.

Don't expect fettucini alfredo and unlimited breadsticks.

"This town has already got great red-sauce joints," Mancini told me recently. "I wanted to do dishes that maybe you won't see around here, dishes that are approachable but different."

The brief menu features seven antipasti (starters), a few simple salads, six main courses and a handful of sides and desserts. Only main dishes break into double-digit pricing, and the most expensive item, a wine-braised, grass-fed Michigan lamb shoulder with polenta, is just $17. (The "Tuscan sirloin" entree at the Olive Garden in Dearborn, by the way, is $18.79.)

For now there’s no pasta. The seasonal manicotti — inspired by a dish from Mancini's Aunt Edie in Pittsburgh — employs rolled crepes instead. (Pasta, I’m told, is on the way.)

There are other quirks, too: The pillowy gnocchi are made of ricotta in lieu of the more common flour or potato, and the bright flavors of lemon and tarragon are more common here than heavy meat-and-tomato sauce.

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All the wines are from Italy, but New World die-hards and casual wine drinkers shouldn't fear. A knowledgeable server will happily guide you through the well-curated list of bottles, all of which are available by the glass. Prices here, too, are gentle.

Food and wine have such a long intertwined history in Italy — nothing makes an Italian meal better than a well-paired vino from the region.

I recommend starting with a glass of bubbly, perhaps an Abruzzi prosecco ($7) or Lambrusco rosé ($8). Both pair well with the anchovada crostini ($6) — thick squares of crusty ciabatta and unctuous anchovy-hazelnut spread, bright with lemon zest and coriander that cut through the oily fishiness. (The bubbles help with that, too.)

Or tuck into the fritelle di baccala ($8) — a trio of deep-fried spheres with crispy exteriors that give way to delicate insides of creamy potato and salt cod. I expected them to be greasy and heavy, but found them to be neither.

The must-try roasted fennel antipasti (gratinato di finocchio, $7) is Mancini's take on a dish by Philadelphia chef Marc Vetri. La Rondinella's version, topped with breadcrumbs and chopped red pepper, is helped by a few dollops of creamy béchamel sauce and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Both further mellow the anise flavors of the roasted bulb quarters.

My two favorite menu items — both unexpected knockouts — are found within the selection of main dishes.

The calamari ripieni ($14) are small squid stuffed with a pine nut, anchovy and herb breadcrumb mixture, pan seared to a delightful brown. The squid itself adds a nice layer of subtle seafood flavor to a dish that could almost be mistaken for stuffed pasta shells. But the real star is the vivid red-pepper sauce that tops the bed of barley the calamari are served on. Even weeks later, I can still taste the penetrating piquant flavor of that sauce.

The other knockout is La Rondinella's chicken entree, of all things. The preparation changes seasonally, but my dining companion and I agreed the pollo agrodolce ($14) — a spring dish — was worthy of four stars. Instead of limp chicken breasts, meaty skin-on thighs are marinated in labneh and rosemary, then fried crispy and cooked through with an intoxicating cannellini bean stew of red wine vinegar, honey, roasted figs and tomato. The dish is an example of the elegant simplicity of rustic Italian cuisine done right.

Desserts are also simple but inspired. The pistachio semifreddo ($6) and cannoli ($3) are both delightful ways to cap the meal, and either pairs well with an herbaceous amaro, like cynar, to balance the sweetness. La Rondinella's relatively large selection of more than a dozen amari — the bittersweet Italian liqueur — is straight out of the European dining playbook. Again, servers are happy to explain the finer points for the uninitiated, and the curious can sample a flight of three for $13.

Although three separate visits over four weeks were all overwhelmingly positive experiences, not everything at Mancini's new spot soars. ("La Rondinella," by the way, means "the swallow" — Mancini's favorite bird and the name of a Tuscan folk song about an imprisoned narrator admiring the freedom of the happily chirping birds outside.)

The ribs ($15) are upstaged by the buttery polenta they come served on, and Aunt Edie's manicotti ($15) are somehow both original and mostly forgettable at the same time. The ricotta gnocchi ($12), too, lack that satisfying toothsome heft of their more common flour or potato-made brethren.

But that's just nitpicking. Truth is, even the ho-hum here is more interesting than the boilerplate Italian served elsewhere. Mancini is a thoughtful guy, and La Rondinella's food reflects that. Nothing is added to the menu until it's up to snuff.

And Mancini's in no rush. He's already got a hit on his hands, so he can continue to tweak and expand the menu — adding pasta or fish, for example — when La Rondinella is ready for it.

The restaurant is already two years in the making, with Mancini himself designing the clean, light-filled room that seats about 40, plus another 12 at the zinc-topped L-shaped bar. The booths that line the white-washed brick wall beyond the large front windows are reclaimed church pews from Redford, and the rest of the seating is made up of old theater seats from the Netherlands. A large blue painting by James Noellert depicting Mancini's father's hometown of Supino, Italy, is a focal point in the spare dining room.

It all adds up to a tasteful, cozy atmosphere that's special enough for a romantic date night but also befitting of jeans and a t-shirt on a hot summer day.

Music and service both reflect a DIY rock 'n' roll spirit without sacrificing professionalism.

After multiple visits, in the name of journalism, I personally can't wait to go back.

(Dinner 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 2453 Russell; 313-567-2051; www.larondinelladetroit.com.)

Contact Mark Kurlyandchik: 313-222-5026 or mkurlyandchik@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mkurlyandchik.