For the budino, combine cream and milk in bowl or pitcher, set aside.

To serve, spoon a tablespoon of warm caramel sauce over each budino.

Along with deep flavors, the dark chocolate budino offers an intriguing and unexpected chili kick.

Taking a bag of soft white ricotta cheese from the fridge, she set about making a budino Toscano.

The budino's simple master stroke?

They should have told me to take only tiny bites of everything beforehand so that I would have room for a second budino and maybe a third.

The porcini soufflé and the fettucine Bolognese are famous, as is the budino di ciocolatta, a warm chocolate cake.

As an appetizer, try budino di granturco in salsa cinghiale, which is a sort of timbale of polenta with boar sauce.

But Mozza reached perhaps its loftiest peak toward the end of each meal, when its butterscotch budino, a pudding to shame all other puddings, arrived.

But molten chocolate cake was liquid to a fault, and semolina budino was heavy-handed, its garnish of rhubarb mint marmellata far too tart.

Budino di granturco in salsa cinghiale, a sort of timbale of polenta topped with boar sauce, turns into a pleasant but delicate little dish.

Se non altro così poteva mangiare biscotti, burro, banane..." Patsy, con la prontezza di un concorrente a un quiz televisivo, aggiunse: "Budino?"

Asparagi al Parmigiano (fresh warmed asparagus served simply with butter and grated Parmesan cheese) and budino di formaggio con fonduta al profumo di funghi (a light cheese custard served warm in a wild mushroom sauce) were equally tasty.

You could easily make a meal of the pizza, but the small menu has other excellent choices, like budino di carciofi, or artichoke puree ($7.50), an Ischian specialty that is soft as flan and set atop a luscious combination of grilled pancetta and peppers.

One night I ordered budino di pane bread pudding for dessert and it was everything I relish in this homey dish: light and loosely textured with good flavor, looped with caramel sauce and garnished with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Dishes to look for include budino di granturco in salsa cinghiale, a sort of polenta timbale topped with boar sauce; ragu of wild boar over pappardelle noodles; spaghetti alla chitarra, hand-cut pasta blended with basil and tomatoes, and tagliolini tossed with butter and lemon.

While a new menu is in the works, starters include budino di granturco in salsa cinghiale, a polenta-like timbale topped with a wild boar sauce; goose carpaccio covered with shavings of Parmesan and a drizzle of truffle oil, and a smoky ragu of sea scallops and porcini mushrooms.

At Bacci's (900 Main Street South, Southbury, 262-1250), a starter of budino di formaggio con fonduta al profumo di funghi, a light cheese custard served warm in a wild mushroom sauce, and a ravishing dessert, cassata with amaretto-flavored filling dotted with chopped almonds and chocolate chips, linger long.