And dreams rarely make sense to anyone who isn't paid to hear about them. So let us praise people such as Tony Gundogdu, who named his California-Italian restaurant Piacere. Two storefronts are fused to a center spine of wood and glass. We sat on the more formal, wine-cellar side, where the walls are padded and the noise level never gets annoying. The open kitchen, wood-fired oven side, offers the fun of rounded booths.
Music is an occasional, but always acoustic, treat.
Service was imperfect. It took a while to get menus. Later we got a bottle of wine we hadn't ordered. And there was a bit of waiting between ordering and receiving. But there were no attitude problems, so all these glitches were mere bagatelles.