Vincenzo’s small gem with big Italian flavors

The Cincinnati Post, April 30, 1998
Amy Culbertson

What are the odds of finding an authentic Italian restaurant in suburban Springdale , much less in a tiny former diner/gas station? OK, now suppose this gem of a restaurant changes hands: What are the odds that it will keep its special spark?

When you think about it, Vincenzo’s shouldn’t exist.

As Germano’s, it was an open secret among local diners-out for almost a decade: the proverbial diamond-in-the-rough where you could get celestial veal piccata but had to go outside to use the restrooms in the back.

Then owner Domenico Germano decided to expand and go upscale in Montgomery . The gustatory gods must have been smiling down on us, because it was Vincenzo Mazzocco who took over the little diner.

Mazzocca reveals his Italian heritage the moment he opens his mouth – or the moment you open yours, to take a bite of his gamberoni aglio olio or cozze all’arrabbiata. Born in Florence into a family or restauranteurs and hoteliers, he came to New York 18 years ago, owned a restaurant on Long Island for a time and then moved to Cincinnati in 1993 as chef at the Hyatt’s Champs Italian Chophouse.

Two and a half years later, he bought Germano’s. Renaming it Vincenzo’s, he wisely kept many of the regulars’ favorites on the menu. But it’s clear Mazzocca has a talent of his own, that chef’s special touch that makes you smile at first bite.

His hallmarks are freshness, top-quality ingredients and vivid flavors; his extreme respect for his ingredients is tied to an utter lack of pretentiousness.

“This is real food,” he says pointing out that he gets his fish fresh from Boston and cuts it himself. “Italian food is really simple, you know,” he adds. “I don’t do any of this crazy stuff. Pasta with apples? Prunes? Mussles and chocolate? Where do they get these ideas?”

Mazzocca’s gift for inspired simplicity is illustrated in his gamberoni infernali – a huge pile of cappellini noodles mined with firm, crisp shrimp – big ones, two bites each, bursting with sweet sea flavor – and fat whole garlic cloves, their bite mellowed by the flame.

The perfectly cooked pasta is just coated with a fresh-tomato sauce that is only briefly cooked, so it retains all its texture and character. The promised spiciness isn’t apparent at the outset – at first you simply taste the tomatoes’ sweetness – but, as you eat, a distinct glow fills your mouth.

I can barely imagine how heavenly this dish will be in a couple of months, when really good summer tomatoes are available. It’s exactly everything the Olive Gardens and their ilk aren’t – Italy on a plate.

Some menu highlights
In his tiny kitchen, on a six-burner stove – “I use one for hot water” – Vincenzo’s chef/owner Vincenzo Mazzocca turns out a dozen pasta dishes, more than a half-dozen chicken and veal entrees plus a half-dozen or more specials daily.

Frankly, I haven’t seen a dish at Vincenzo’s – on the menu or the blackboard – that isn’t tempting, and I suspect you could order a fine meal there by shutting your eyes and pointing. But here are the highlights of the territory we managed to cover it two visits:

From Tuscany , land of bean-lovers, comes a wonderfully rustic appetizer, faglioli e salcisse ($5.59). Fat white cannellini beans and slices of not-too-spicy Italian sausage star in a robust but bright-flavored thin tomato sauce loaded with herbs and whole garlic cloves. Country comfort food though it is, the lightness of the sauce keeps it from seeming heavy. You will want to spoon up every last drop of the sauce.

Another fine sauce – this one fruity chianti – distinguishes funghi con salsiccee ($5.95), silky mushroom slices with more excellent sausage: a feast of earthy flavors, but, again, not heavy.

Simplicity is the keyword for the gamberoni all griglia appetizer ($6.95), a platter of plump shrimp, meaty portobellos, roma tomatoes and sweet onions, glistening with olive oil and edged with touches of delicious char from the grill.

Among entrees, if ravioli in any form is featured on the blackboard, order it. Mazzocca’s ravioli are big, round and tender, and a ravioli mist aurora special provided a veritable ravioli sampler, with two each of three different pastas in the colors of the Italian flag. Again it was the sauce – a beautifully balanced tomato-cream – that puts this dish over the top.

Veal is another sure winner, including the classic vitello marsala ($17.95), with a forest of mushrooms and a rich, nutty-flavored sauce that’s just sweet enough. The same sauce graced a special of vitello saltimbocca ($17.95), with wide tender scallops sandwiching thin-shaved deep-red prosciutto and a touch of mozzarella – a rich, and richly satisfying, dish.

A sheaf of prosciutto also punched up the flavor of pollo all’aceto ($13.95), two plump and juicy breast halves whose topping also included the thinnest layer of provolone. My usual policy when encountering chicken or veal topped with any kind of melted cheese is to flee in the opposite direction , but Mazzocca’s sure hand stops well short of gloppiness.

The flavor of balsamic vinegar can easily overwhelm a dish, but, again, the chef keeps the vinegar perfectly in this tart-sweet sauce.

These portions are so massive and the flavors so seductive that by meal’s end all we could manage was a simple panna cotta – a baby-meek cream custard with a very adult coffee-rum sauce – and the ethereal caramel ice cream.