Delio Susi Jr., chef and co-owner of Cambridge’s Sulmona Restaurant and Amelia’s Trattoria, wants you to love polenta. The Italian cornmeal porridge (like grits) was originally “a poor man’s food, to fill the belly,’’ he says. “As time went on, it became a tradition.’’ In Susi’s family, it’s a winter dish served with tasty toppings, which is exactly what the chef is offering during the month of February at his year-old restaurant Sulmona, named for the city in the Abruzzo region of Italy where his parents are from.

The centerpiece of the meal is warm, soft polenta spread on a wooden board — in an amount determined by the number of eaters in your party — and, per Susi family tradition, the polenta is divided into three “flavor’’ sections, one each with crumbled sausage, tomato sauce, and browned sliced garlic sprinkled on top. Then you choose one or more “sides’’ or toppings, which include baked pork riblets with melt-in-your-mouth cabbage; veal stew with wild mushrooms; giambotta (a chunky vegetable and white bean stew); and bagna cauda (fried smelts and calamari with an anchovy and sardine sauce). These four are Susi’s favorites, part of memorable wintry meals once cooked by his grandmother Palma and continued by his aunt Maria Pia. Diners simply scoop a portion of polenta onto their plate and top it with as much (or little) of the toppings as they like.

The Polenta Menu is available a la carte, or buy the whole feast (polenta board and all four toppings and two glasses of wine) for $55 per person. If you have just a little room left for dessert, try the cinnamon sugar-coated zeppole (fried dough balls).

Sulmona Restaurant, 608 Main St., Cambridge, 617-714-4995; www.sulmonacambridge.com.

LISA ZWIRN