Perhaps because they know it is cruel to expect a diner to choose between their delicious sounding offerings of either salami, salumi or cured meats, Perbacco also offer a mixed plate with samples from each category This week I casually glanced down at my dinner plate in flavor sensation rapture turned amusement. Part of me cleaved off from my pleasure to stand neutral at the feast set before me. I spied an ugly unapologetic pile of stuff, . Yet, at the celebration feast this weekend, welcoming my brother and sister-in-law home from a year abroad, a fascinating collection of eclectic personalities emerged, not only around the table, but on the dinner plates On a stark, white plate, two large triangles of mozzarella cheese had been deep fried and were sitting with a spoonful of cheery, red Marinara sauce situated right down the middle. The exterior was crisp and I liked the fact that it . Not too long ago I wrote of Campo dei Fiori, the Italian café/restaurant opening on Columbus and Broadway in the old Bank of America building. After partying at the opening of Dell’uva, my friend and I got to join Campo’s owner, . An annual publication dedicated to Italian cooking. From recipes to the best dining and shopping of italian goodies in Sydney. I decided to try a dessert recipe in it when hosting a 3-course dinner for friends last week Some have had really slow serice, both at lunch (which is death to any resturant with hopes of serving office crowds) and dinner. Complaints are that the value is just not there, as too many of the plates are too small to share, . It took, however, a lovely dinner at Vini, a hole in the wall Italian joint in Surry Hills, and more specifically their pear and chocolate tart for me to figure out just what to do. While the results were delicious and incredibly rich, . The food is wonderful, and there are generally a variety of options for you including one or two fish dishes and some small plate pastas which can be ordered entree size. When I was there recently I had an excellent trout dish which . I like to think that this site is a conversation of sorts, a place where we come to swap recipes and dinner plates, a kind of trading post where cakes and chickpeas are perfectly valid currency. In another era, we would have sat around . Art de la table