Cucina da Vito
2701 St. Joseph Blvd., 613-834-8486, facebook.com/CucinaDaVito
Open: Monday to Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m, and then 5 to 10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 5 to 10 p.m.
Prices: main courses $20 to $39
Access: no steps to front door or washrooms
I know just how Donald Trump would react if he were served the risotto al limone con gamberi at Cucina da Vito.
“Those shrimp are yuge!” the billionaire vulgarian would say. If his taste buds were as refined as his mouth is loud, the would-be U.S. president would also appreciate the exemplary tenderness of those massive, bursting-with-flavour shrimp, not to mention the well-textured, stock-infused rice on which they sit.
That dish at the Orléans restaurant, like a few others on its menu, reads as a bit pricey for those with less money in the wallets than Trump. It’s $45 for a platter meant for two. But costs aside, the shrimp risotto was one of several splurges, along with some more budget-friendly dishes, that do chef Vito Di Brizzi proud.
The 60-year-old is a veteran on Ottawa’s Italian restaurant scene, having opened Il Tintoretto on Wellington Street in 1983, soon after he came to Canada from Salerno, Italy. Cucina da Vito is the fourth of Di Brizzi’s restaurants, but the first with his name on it. Owned by Di Brizzi’s daughter but featuring her father in the kitchen, it opened in October in a strip mall at St. Joseph and Belcourt boulevards.
Cucina da Vito serves what has become standard fare in Italian-Canadian restaurants since Di Brizzi arrived. (“I was the one who introduced tiramisu in Ottawa,” Di Brizzi told me this week. “I was the one who introduced balsamic vinegar.”)
But what we’ve eaten here, more often than not, has topped similar dishes elsewhere thanks to superior ingredients, a strong from-scratch ethic in the kitchen, and care taken in the process of cooking.
A lunch visit earlier this month found nothing but winners landing on the table. The soup of the day made humble zucchini delicious. Spaghetti, made in house and perfectly cooked, seemed to need nothing more than fresh — not canned — clams and a hit of garlic to shine. Just as basic, but no less satisfying, was the spaghetti with tomato sauce that accompanied veal, pounded thin, floured and served with a Marsala sauce.
A subsequent dinner began with the kitchen’s gift of not just fluffy bread with balsamic and oil, but also bruschetta topped with diced tomatoes (which were, unfortunately, short on flavour). Of two other appetizers, we preferred pan-seared escargot in a perky tomato-and-white-wine sauce to small, fried smelts that were cleanly fried but under-seasoned.
Scialatielli, a noodle a little thicker than spaghetti or linguine, played well with a mix of mussels, shrimp, scallops and cherry tomatoes that was generous and again cooked with care. A bowlful of toothsome fresh lasagna was inundated with well-made tomato and bechamel sauces.
From the menu’s veal section came an involved preparation of veal stuffed with prosciutto and smoked cheese, as well as a more simple and sizeable grilled 12-ounce chop. The latter beat the former.
The stuffed veal packets were too salty and seemed like a slightly skimpy portion, while the chop was enjoyably juicy, meaty and nicely charred. The counterpoint of a bright sauce — mustard and sage, perhaps — would have been nice.
Desserts — home-made, naturally — provided the proper finish. Tiramisu was light and fresh, and significantly better than sludgier examples elsewhere. Another light treat was a slice of tangy ricotta-based cheesecake.
During both visits, service from the black-vested staff was knowledgeable and attentive.
The look of the place is attractive and comfortable, although the volume can rise sufficiently to make guests wish they were in the private room behind barn wood doors. Tables are clothed and diners are surrounded by brick and posters that nod to Europe, Italy, or Italy’s favourite son, Frank Sinatra.
If only Ol’ Blue Eyes had been playing as dinner music. We heard Kenny G and other soulless saxophonists instead, which was too-generic accompaniment for food as honestly and scrupulously made as Di Brizzi’s.
