5850 Fayetteville Road
Sutton Station
Durham, NC
Website
Entrees $10–$21
Bocci is a popular restaurant in the Woodcroft area of Durham and I must admit, I've already been back twice since this meal. I think that's a good sign.
Inside, you are greeted by a deli case of Italian meats, put there solely to torture you as you wait, if you've come on a weekend evening. The dining area is your typical trattoria style: fake brick exposures, graphic posters of Italian vegetables and espresso, but the booths are nicely secluded from each other.
We started with an atypical antipasto capri, served like a salad and much smaller than expected as such platters usually have enough food to feed the Roman army. The balsamic vinegar drizzle was lovely but I would have liked more roasted peppers.
Calamari al firenze was the next course and the squid were sweet and rosy in color, which was a bit jarring for me but fine in combination with the bread crumbs.
We ended with a slice of turtle cheesecake that satisfied my sweet tooth but was nothing special. Turtle cheesecake is one of those desserts that is creeping into many standard American chain restaurants so I really didn't expect much but sugar and I got it.
Bocci gets rave reviews online for the pizza and we gave it a try on our next time out. It's so well-done that it made me raise my rating to an avocado.
3 stars
