On a night winter turned from merely cold to bitter, some gnocchi was a major comfort.

The little potato pillows were lush on the tongue, even after a half-hour in transit, as we experimented with holiday-season take-home food. The silky buds ($12.95) in a light tomato sauce were the triumph of an order from The Italian Valley, a Dundas restaurant located where the main drag, King Street, begins.

The restaurant has three-metre-high windows facing King, caramel walls with black wainscotting and a peasant mural of an Italian village on one wall.

Things got off to a stuttering start when two items I ordered, vegetable lasagna and a seafood platter, turned out to be not available.

But the restaurant, by way of apology, waived the price of a tomato-bocconcini salad ($7.95) when the bill arrived. And no time was lost in the reordering. The takeout bag arrived not long after I tried an appetizer in-house. The garlic shrimp ($8.95) came in a different form than anticipated, perhaps two dozen small shrimp instead of the dozen medium you might expect.

And while they tasted fresh and weren't overcooked (something of a feat with such small specimens) they made for finicky eating with shell skirts still attached. With a basket of thick and ultralight Italian loaf slices, it was nonetheless a decent snack.

That tucked away, I sped into the night with the gnocchi, salad and Tuscan chicken fettuccine ($17.95). Thirty minutes later, the pasta dishes were still hot and the salad cool as they were opened at home.

After the velvety gnocchi, the marks dropped. The tomato/bocconcini portion and fettuccine serving seemed small for the price.

There were about eight buds of the soft cheese in a mass of tomato, and the chicken component in the fettuccine was light.

The Tuscan treatment, with a dark cream sauce, was a rich feature that scored well. But some more meat in the latter item would have elevated the dinner.

Service for the in-house part of the meal, by the way, was attentive and engaging.

jkernaghan@thespec.com

905-526-3422

The Italian Valley

2 King St. W., Dundas

906-628-6863

The look: Warm and bright

The feel: Relaxed

What you'll pay: The lunch menu opens with bruschetta for $4.95, mozzarella sticks are $7.95 and calamari is $9.95. Panini sandwiches are $8.95 with choice of soup or salad, pasta dishes run from $9.95 for penne and tomato sauce to $11.95 for fettuccine Alfredo, and pizzas with two items are $9.95. Dinner antipasti includes garlic bread at $6.95, mussels for $12.95 and an antipasto platter for $14.95. Salads range from $4.95 for mixed green and caesar sides to $8.95 for a full caesar with chicken. Pasta dishes include cheese ravioli at $13.95, eggplant parmigiana at $14.95 and fettuccine carbonara for $16.95.

Entrees open at $16.95 for grilled veal or chicken breast and rise to $19.95 for a 12-ounce French pork chop and $23.95 for a 10-ounce rib-eye steak. Desserts include cannoli for $2 and $2.50 and tiramisu at $6.95.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday to Saturday; 5 to 9 p.m., Sunday. Wheelchair accessible.