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From its shelves of knickknacks to its pleasant back garden to its French name, Le Petit Cafe cultivates an air of charm; even the patrons are friendly with one another. In these surroundings you might expect to eat only dainty slivers of tea cakes, but the menu offers some surprisingly hearty choices. Next to the pastries and espressos you'll find fresh salads, standard breakfast dishes, healthful smoothies and juices, soups, wraps, burgers, and, most prominently, seventeen different kinds of panini. The panini, made with thick slices of ciabatta bread, hold mostly traditional Italian fillings, like prosciutto, mozzarella, and tomato, or sopresseta, artichoke, and mayonnaise, that will please, if not electrify, most palates. Follow up with a dessert as sweet as your pretty window table, while you gaze dreamily across the street at the church where the not-so-charming Al Capone got married. — Lauren Aaronson