When you name your restaurant after the Italian phrase for "outdoor dining," you'd better be able to give your guests a rustic dining experience in any weather. The owners of Al Fresco have done just that with their terrazza, a glassed-in dining space that can be reserved for up to 60 people, or four hungry hippos. The room's stone-tile floor feels very Mediterranean, a quality which jibes with a menu that pays homage to both northern and southern Italian cuisine.

Chefs prepare everything from a pollo alla toscana sauteed with sausage and pine nuts to a lobster ravioli filled with herbed lobster mousse. Several dishes are listed with a recommended wine pairing, which speaks to the restaurant's internationally curated list of wines. The whites include both Italian prosecco and Californian chardonnays; the reds both an Argentine malbec and an Australian shiraz.