New businesses are constantly popping up in The Village shopping center, but Travinia is one that I've been meaning to get out and try for a while. I've known some people who have gone, and they've all raved about the place, so I was looking forward to it. This week, I finally got to check it out for lunch.

Lunch certainly isn't the best time to go test out an Italian restaurant. Italian restaurants are made for leisurely dinners with appetizers, pasta, and shared bottles of wine. My lunch had none of that, so I'll definitely have to go back and try it again. However, what I did have was still delicious.

We ordered the veggie pizza (sans onions, which i hate). At $10, it was a great value, as it was big enough to share. Even without the onions, it was stil covered in mozzarella, roasted squash, zucchini, mushrooms, roasted tomatoes & garlic, making it quite filling.

Also served was a round of warm bread drizzled in olive oil, rosemary and garlic. That bread alone is worth coming to Travinia. It was hot, fresh, and we devoured it in an embarassingly short amount of time.

As I mentioned, my visit there was a short one, but there are several things that make me want to come back. One of which is a 7-day-a-week happy hour from 3-7. They also feature live jazz on Wednesdays from 7-10.

Travinia hasn't quite captured the lunch crowd yet- it was mostly empty when we were in there around 1:30, and my one complaint is that our food did take a while to come out. However, everyone was friendly and our lunch was definitely worth the wait.

My next goal: get back in there to try the eggplant parmesean.