Tre Monti and La Pita Café

Restaurant veteran Molly Abraham noshes around town, tracking down some top spots
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Tre Monti and La Pita CaféTre Monti:  This handsome restaurant, in a free-standing building tucked behind the San Marino Club, is an extension of the club’s cultural heritage. House-made pastas and a signature risotto are in the style of tiny San Marino (the Lilliputian republic surrounded by Italy on all sides), but the menu goes well beyond that into mainstream territory, including grilled tenderloin, New York strip with wild mushrooms, and sautéed Dover sole. The high-ceilinged room has a festive feeling with its colorful banners and flower-bedecked, blue linen-covered tables. 1695 E. Big Beaver Rd., Troy; 248-680-1100. L & D Mon.-Fri., D Sat.-Sun. $20 Smoking only in the bar.

La Pita Café: A variety of seating arrangements, from a step-up row of curtained booths to window-side tables beneath pierced brass and beaded lamps, gives the restaurant charm despite its large dimensions. The array of Middle Eastern dishes is equally extensive. A hearth oven in the dining room produces irresistible sesame-seed dotted rounds of bread to accompany such dishes as chicken shawarma, stuffed grape leaves, and shish kafta. 22681 Newman St., (a block south of Michigan Avenue), Dearborn; 313-563-7482. L & D daily. $14 Smoking only in the bar.