If you can catch them when they're open, Cafe Vignole might be the best find you make all year. They are a tiny African-American-owned Italian restaurant run by a woman who grew up on Soul Food and her Italian husband. The resulting offspring is a fresh, flavorful offering of all things mediterranean (with a Soul Food flair) including toasted paninis with BBQ pork; grits with delicate shrimp; and a black-eyed pea cake that you just might not be embarassed to drool over in public. For those who aren't into infusions, they offer the typical pastas, salads, sandwiches, wine, and espressos that rarely go wrong there. The downfall: they are not in a prominent location, and are sometimes randomly not open just when you're in the mood to go. And their service is slow to the point of hilarity. The bright side: there is never, ever a wait.
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