Well worth the light-rail trip to Columbia City, La Medusa offers the usual locally sourced seasonal fare with an inspired Sicilian spin. (Like Café Juanita, this is a restaurant that sources everything locally, except when they’re importing ingredients from Italy.)

Cod fritters are salty, creamy nuggets encased in a shaggy yet perfectly crisp batter, fried just so, and nestled in a ramekin atop a puddle of garlicky and fresh-tasting marinara. The acciuga pizza, with caciocavallo cheese and white anchovies, also comes with a couple of eggs, sunny side up and blinking at you coquettishly. “Grandma’s Greens” are topped with raisins, olives and pine nuts; this might be the most delicious way to eat kale that doesn’t involve the use of vast amounts of bacon. A tender, beefy grilled sirloin comes in a demi-glace with roasted potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and sunchoke, the earthy tang of which lends a novel layer of flavor to the usual root vegetable menagerie.

The wine list is an homage to every great wine-producing area of Italy and has many affordable bottles, including the very quaffable house red.

This is a casual, café-tables-and-chalkboard-menus kind of place, which makes the prices seem a bit high. But we guess that La Medusa hits its inclusivity quota in other ways. The crowd often skews older, but the staff is extremely accommodating of kids.