Six years ago, flat rounds of bread moistened with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary began surfacing at fine food shops on Mount Desert Island and in Ellsworth. That’s when I learned the Italian word focaccia.

Last week, aioli became the latest addition to my European vocabulary. It’s a garlic-flavored canola mayonnaise spiced with freshly ground pepper. I sampled it on a grilled chicken sandwich served with roasted onions on focaccia at Little Notch Cafe in Southwest Harbor.

Now, not knowing words such as aioli, asiago and the such can be off-putting when you’re trying to decipher a menu. While I watched a man pace outside the cafe, nervously looking at the clientele inside and the lunch specials written in red chalk on a blackboard, I wondered if he felt the same way. But I mustered up my courage and asked what that creamy, heavenly spread was on my sandwich.

Little Notch’s engaging manager, Dan Baldridge, reassured me that my culinary ignorance was nothing to be ashamed of, and he enlightened me in detail about aioli. This is a guy who knows his aioli, too, and I’d like to be on his team when the Jeopardy category is pasta because he’s sure to know the difference between linguine, fettuccine, penne and rigatoni.

These winter days, when the choice of restaurants has plummeted, I combine any errand or work assignment on MDI’s “Quiet Side” with a meal at Little Notch, located at 340 Main St. in Southwest Harbor. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The small eatery might seem pricey to some. My grilled chicken sandwich, chocolate brownie and mango juice cost just under $10. But you are paying for quality food, like artichoke fettuccine and freshly baked baguette, toasted and drizzled with olive oil and minced garlic, one of last week’s lunch specials.

Originally from the Tremont village of Seal Cove, Arthur Jacobs and his wife, Katherine are the creators of Little Notch Cafe, as well as Little Notch Bakery. After studying cooking at Boston’s Newbury College, Arthur trained as a baker at Clear Flour Bakery in Brookline. He worked at Cafe Luna and other Greater Boston restaurants before starting his own catering business in Massachusetts.

Jacobs doesn’t have Italian ancestors but he is partial to Mediterranean cuisine. That explains Little Notch’s accent on breads, cheeses, herbs, vegetables and other foods of that sun-drenched region.

Little Notch reminds me of trendy cafes and winebars tucked on the narrow streets of SoHo and TriBeCa in New York City. The decor is somewhat stark. A row of elegant, wrought-iron seats at a maple counter provides a bird’s-eye view of goings-on on Main Street.

“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll bring it right out to you,” Dan Baldridge tells a woman in a raccoon coat and a man in tweed after they order at the counter and then go off to find their seats.

Baldridge is just as solicitous taking orders from the boatbuilders, storekeepers and other working people lining up to place orders. He tells people to get something to drink from the beverage cooler.

No Coca Cola or Diet Coca Cola here, folks. Shenandoah Sarsaparilla, Blue Sky Jamaican Ginger Ale and the Fresh Samantha line of fruit and vegetable juices are among the choices. You can also help yourself to ice water set out in pitchers on the counter.

Little Notch’s hallmark has to be its fine, thin-crusted pizza. Arthur makes the dough daily. The pizzas are baked in a hearth oven that has a stone deck and steam injection. The pizza sauce is made daily from organically grown tomatoes. Fresh whole-milk mozzarella is used. Small and large pizzas cost $9.25 and $14 respectively.

What’s fun is to watch Little Notch’s staff roll out the pizza dough on the Deer Isle granite counter. You can also watch them apply the tomato sauce and add the pepperoni, prosciutto, hot cherry peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and other toppings. Arthur wants you to see the preparation so you know what you’re getting for your money.

The pizza combos are mouth-watering — such as the sundried tomato, ricotta-garlic-and-mushroom version. But I had recently shared a four-cheese, chunky-tomato, garlic-and-herbs pizza, with a savory cup of soup made of barley, lentils and portabello mushrooms. So, on this day, the artichoke fettuccini with sweet Italian sausage and marinara sauce looked good to me.

It was. When my order arrived, I was surprised to find no artichoke hearts artfully arranged on the fettuccini served on a paper plate. I poked around with my plastic fork until I realized the pasta was flavored with artichokes. Silly me.

But the meal was delicious. I liked the fact the portion of pasta was not mammoth-sized. I especially enjoyed the slices of toasted French baguette, which were moist, crunchy and garlicky.

I even had room for dessert. Eating one of the cafe’s fudgelike brownies, I wondered what made them so luscious. Bittersweet Belgian chocolate, I learned. When in doubt, just ask. If you’re at Little Notch, it’s sure to be very benissimo.