Parma's rustic face, and its promise of simple, hearty and reasonably priced food, has found an audience. You will find a few holdovers from the Mare menu. Another old favorite is the cacciucco, an entree featured every Friday. Imported rocks no doubt are costly this time of year. I'm not ready to go that far, but it was a most impressive dish.
Pastas are available in full and half portions.
Besides the tagliatelle, there are excellent rigatoni stuffed with chicken and wild mushrooms in a silky tomato-cream sauce, and delicate gnocchi in a tomato broth with calamari and shrimp. Underneath, a marinara sauce adds sweet and tart balance to the dish. Skewered lamb meatballs are firm and tasty, aggressively seasoned with rosemary. The only trouble is that the kitchen is aggressive on the salt as well. A sweet marsala wine sauce helped counteract the saltiness, but not enough.