A big night at Vincenzo’s
Small Springdale‘ristorante’ has
the soul and authentic food a chain lacks
The Cincinnati Enquirer, January 3, 1997
Polly Campbell
In the movie Big Night, two Italian brothers
try to run a restaurant according to artistic and personal
principles but lose out to the crassly commercial showman
down the street. In the ‘50’s, when the movie
is set, what people wanted wasn’t seafood risotto – unless
it came with a side of spaghetti and meatballs. The Italian
restaurant scene has changed in 40 years, but the conflict
between personal expression and commerce never goes
away. With Italian restaurants in all price ranges as competition,
a small personally run ristorante is as risky
a business as ever. Vincenzo Mazzocca has taken the risk
by buying Germano’s
in Springdale last February when Domenico Germano moved
to Montgomery. The new restaurant, Vincenzo’s, has
that’s
missing from larger, more heavily capitalized establishments.
Plus, it has excellent, creative Italian food. Mr. Mazzocca,
who’s originally from Modena and
worked at a family business in Florence before moving to
the United States, was chef at Champs at the Hyatt, downtown,
before cooking at Germano’s. He intends to keep the
restaurant as is: small and cozy (there are only 44 seats,
most in well-worn red booths) and unpretentious (restrooms
have an outside entrance), but charming, the kind of
place you’d like to be
a regular. He plans to get a liquor license so he can
sell wine, a serious omission now. I was impressed from
my first bite of Funghi con Salsicce ($5.95), mushrooms
with slices of Italian sausage in a winey sauce that
begs to be mopped up completely with bread. Anitpasto Freddo
for two ($5.95) is classic: lots of prosciutto and wedges
of fresh parmesan, a couple of toasts with a salty olive
spread and fresh mozzarella. Caesar salad ($2.95) has
a creamy dressing, with an anchovy on top. Mr. Mazzocca
has taken seafood off the regular menu and put it on
the “specials” board. There’s a veal
special, too, and ravioli and a risotto, which makes
for a long list for the servers to recite. They do it with
little flourish, but they know the dishes well. Salmone
aglio e olio ($15.95) was the dish I wish I’d
ordered: angel hair pasta with large pieces of salmon,
dried and fresh tomatoes, mushrooms and the olive and
garlic of the name tying it together in a most savory
way. More suave was Fettuccine con gamberetti from the
regular menu ($11.95). Big shrimp and fresh tomatoes
infuse an Alfredo sauce with delicate flavor, though
one can’t
call the calorie count delicate. The soft shell crags special
($17.95) was prepared the way soft-shell lovers like
them: a deep-fried crunch surrounding plump white meat.
What about seafood risotto? It’s perhaps not the
delicate and authentic version that Primo, the cooking
brother in Big Night, stood his ground on, but
it’s wonderful. For one thing, it comes in an American-size
portion, a sea of just-tender rice. And it’s full
of perfect scallops and shrimp and chunks of salmon ($15.95).
The only fault I find with Vincenzo’s food is that
some dishes are served with pasta of the day. One visit
it was farfalle Alfredo, which didn’t
necessarily go with the crabs of the Pollo con Capperi
Pommodoro ($11.95), which has its own light and lemony
sauce with wine and tomatoes and capers. Vincenzo’s
does not take credit cards. If you forget and show up
with just a few bucks in our wallet, use it to buy a cup
of coffee and some panna cotta ($.3.50). This teacup-size,
rum-and-coffee confection is mostly cream, magically
densified, and does it ever go down easy. Three-layer chocolate
mousse pie, tiramisu (both $3.50) and raspberry cheesecake
($3.25), are good, too. Do go to Vincenzo’s. Just
don’t all go at
once, because you won’t fit. When the restaurant
gets its liquor license, it will be an even better bet.
