According to Pecorino's Instagram, this San Vicente spot invented cacio e pepe, and we're pretty sure that's not true. Here's what we know: Pecorino's food ranges from relatively simple to quite fancy, and the menu’s high prices don’t discriminate. The cheapest thing, a light vegetable soup, is $12, and their “quick light lunch” menu starts at a steep $38. But we don’t leave Pecorino angrily waving our wallets in the air because the food is actually good. There’s a warm cannellini bean salad with generous amounts of bottarga, an excellent amatriciana with al dente bucatini, and a beautiful parchment-baked sole filet topped with potato and zucchini slices that resemble fish scales (like we said, pretty fancy). Our only major complaint is that Pecorino gets really sleepy in a sea of sleepy restaurants. It's the type of restaurant you go to dine alone with your thoughts or with someone who is hard of hearing. The soft jazz playing gets drowned out by the noise of clinking cutlery. On the bright side, there's free parking in the back.

photo credit: Jessie Clapp