This week’s food review was written on a patio shaded by palm trees, overlooking an emerald lawn as the authors poured cups of Earl Gray tea from an earthenware teapot and nibbled on lemon-meringue tartlets. While this description might make it sound like we escaped to a ritzy seaside resort in some former British colony, we were in fact on the Stanford campus…and paid for our afternoon tea using Cardinal Dollars. We wrestled with whether or not to reveal the location of this hidden gem–one of this place’s main draws is its relative obscurity.  But committed as we are to educating Stanford students about the 94305’s culinary bounty, duty bound us to share the goodness that is Russo Cafe.

Opened just two months ago, Russo Cafe is the latest phase in the development of the Munger graduate housing complex. Because the cafe caters mainly to graduate students, the menu and setting are noticeably more sophisticated than, say, The Axe and Palm. Russo Cafe is in fact so good that we would endorse it even if it weren’t conveniently located right next to Stern, the Lower Row and the Law School Library. In fact, we would frequent Russo Cafe even if it required us to pay in “real money.” And yet it is on campus and it does let us spend those limited-use Cardinal Dollars.

Both to prepare for this review and out of sheer hedonism, we’ve been to the cafe at Munger an absurd amount recently.  Still, the menu has yet to disappoint. Russo offers an insane number of options, made with fresh and usually organic ingredients. We’ve yet to see Russo repeat one of their creative daily specials, but in the past we’ve enjoyed shrimp scampi, beef and gnocchi stew (perfect on a cold January afternoon) and pastry-wrapped salmon. For $6.95 (in Cardinal Dollars!), a main entree comes with a choice of two sides, which on a recent visit included mashed potatoes, amazing grilled asparagus and fried risotto balls. We also recommend items off the perennially available menu, especially the macaroni and cheese (it’s obscenely rich), Russo burger and spinach ravioli.

The cafe also has a salad bar and a wood-burning oven for freshly made pizza. While we’ve yet to try the salad bar, the pizzas are really yummy–the chicken pesto is great, although the types available change from day to day. There are even a limited number of made-to-order deli sandwich options that look really, really good.

But perhaps our favorite part of Russo Cafe is the dessert area. A glass display case shows off a constantly rotating assortment of sweets, ranging from cheesecakes to eclairs. When the weather is nice, ask for a slice of the strawberry shortcake and a pot of tea (served with a porcelain cup and a small saucer–who knew Cardinal Dollars could be so classy?) to enjoy out on the patio. If you can ignore the loud construction going on next door at the Law School, the experience feels blissful.