Sotto Sopra

Riccardo Bosio opened Sotto Sopra on North Charles Street in 1996, and thirty years on it is still the Mount Vernon room Baltimore books for a birthday or an anniversary. The northern-Italian cooking runs on handmade pasta — short-rib ravioli, the sacchetti di zucca con salsiccia, veal agnolotti — and on the risotto that first made the kitchen's name. Once a month the dining room turns into Opera Night, a five-course dinner with live singers from the Peabody Institute. Expect roughly $30 to $48 for a main, more with antipasti and wine.

The Kitchen

Riccardo Bosio brought his northern-Italian roots to Baltimore and opened Sotto Sopra in 1996, in a nineteenth-century building on North Charles Street a few blocks above the harbour. He still runs the kitchen day to day, three decades in, which is rare for any chef-owner.

The cooking is contemporary Italian built on a farm-to-table larder. Handmade pasta is the signature, from short-rib ravioli and pumpkin ravioloni to veal agnolotti and the sacchetti di zucca con salsiccia, a pumpkin-and-sausage parcel that regulars order on sight. Risotto is the dish that first put the room on the map, and it is still cooked to order. Mains move through pork osso buco, hand-cut steaks and a seafood cioppino, with local seafood and produce driving the seasonal specials. The restaurant carries a DiRoNA award and has been featured by the Food Network, and its Opera Nights — a five-course dinner set to live performance from Peabody Institute musicians — have become a Baltimore fixture. Plan on roughly $30 to $48 for a main, or a fixed price for the Opera Night menu. The address is 405 North Charles Street, Mount Vernon.

The Room

The room is warm and a little romantic, set in a restored nineteenth-century building with high ceilings and close, candle-lit tables. Lighting is low; the noise level sits at lively conversation on a busy night and softer midweek. Tables are spaced for couples more than big groups, which is why it works for a date or a small celebration. Service is polished and long-tenured. Dress is smart-casual — Baltimore is relaxed, but the room rewards a jacket on a birthday or Opera Night. The setting leans intimate rather than grand.

Best for Birthday

Book Sotto Sopra for a birthday because it is built for a table that wants to linger. The candle-lit room and close tables make a celebration feel special without a special-occasion price; the kitchen will send out a dessert with a candle if you flag the date when you book; and an Opera Night turns dinner into an event, with five courses and live singers between plates. Tell them it is a birthday and ask about the next Opera Night date. For more rooms that suit a celebration, see Best for a birthday and the Baltimore dining guide.

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