Como's cooking is solidly Lombard, shaped by the lake and the Alpine valleys behind it. Polenta uncia — polenta drenched in butter and aged cheese — is the defining dish, alongside lake fish: agoni (shad) dried and pressed in salt, lavarello (whitefish) grilled or in a light broth, and persico (perch) fillets fried golden. Goat's milk cheeses from the valleys, local salami, and porcini mushrooms round out the picture.
The lakefront and the streets around Piazza San Fedele have the highest concentration of restaurants. Avoid the most tourist-facing places on the main piazzas and look for the trattorias one or two streets back — the food is better and the prices lower.