Vincenzo's Now in Sharonville, expanded eatery excels with made-from-scratch marinara

Cin Weekly, November 24, 2004
JULIE FITZGERALD

In a city where Italian is present on virtually every menu - from buttered pasta to garlic bread to pizza - there's only one way to stand out: mouth-watering marinara.

And that's what Vincenzo Mazzocca creates in the restaurant he has owned with his wife, Andrea, for more than nine years.

SECOND TIME AROUND
Settling into a new location at 11525 Chester Road, Sharonville - after moving the restaurant from Springdale three months ago - Mazzocca says his family loves the expanded space. (Seating has gone from 44 to 118 people.)

A Tuscan-style water fountain accents the main dining room. When seated at surrounding booths or wooden tables, you can hear the trickling water as you dine, which is a nice alternative to the Sinatra soundtrack that's become stereotypical of Italian restaurants.

"I'm really happy with the place. It came out beautiful," says Mazzocca in a thick Northern Italian accent. "Everything in the restaurant was built from scratch."

THE ALLURE OF THE WINE LIST
Foods are made from scratch, too. Andrea makes a near-perfect Panna Cotta dessert ($4.95). And Mazzocca's tangy marinara is one of the city's best - something I wasn't expecting as I entered the building.

I went to Vincenzo's, housed in a renovated, former Texas Roadhouse Grill, with a friend. Greeted with menus, bread and garlic butter, we were immediately impressed by two things (besides the fountain): the service and the wine list.

The selection is streamlined, and there are several good Italian wines for $20 per bottle. We ordered a bottle of Rocca Angelo Barbera ($21), and our friendly server (Joan) brought it to the table, allowing us a sample taste before she served the bottle.

SECRET IS IN THE SAUCE
To pair with our red, my friend ordered the fettuccine marinara ($11.95). I took a chance on the special, which was a version of the Gamberoni Aglio Olio that included fresh salmon and scallops along with jumbo shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, artichokes and garlic ($17.95).

Our dishes were served hot. (We appreciated that.) Ingredients were fresh, not from a can. Tossed in an ample amount of garlic/olive oil sauce, the seafood pasta was well executed and impressive. But not as impressive as the marinara.

Expecting a standard thin sauce over a bed of pasta, we were thrilled to find thick tomatoes, mushrooms and roasted fresh garlic. It was the kind of sauce you'd expect from a restaurant in Rome or Venice, not necessarily Sharonville, Ohio.

MEAT LOVERS AND VEGETARIANS
Open for lunch and dinner, Vincenzo's has a menu that accommodates all, from steak eaters to those with a sweet tooth. Though we ordered pasta dishes, plenty of veal, pork and chicken dishes are available. I considered the Pollo da Vincenzo, with chicken, asparagus and white wine sauce ($15.95), before I heard the specials.

For vegetarians, the restaurant features a wide selection of sauces other than the marinara. Tortellini and ravioli dishes ($13.95) offer a choice of five sauces, three of which are vegetarian. Panna Pommodoro (a tomato cream sauce), Spinaci (alfredo with spinach) and Tre Formaggi (cream sauce with mozzarella) would all make for fresh, veggie-friendly choices.

Finish off any meal with homemade dessert. The flan-like Panna Cotta is perfect for two and (literally) melts in your mouth. "My wife makes the Panna Cotta," Mazzocca says. "We get ingredients from Italy, from my mother and sister. Unfortunately, it's stuff you can't find in the United States."