date: 4/8/08
location: st. paul
grade: b +

do you owe everything to spaghetti? then you may wish to head into il vesco vino, if you've not stopped by already. (per ancestry.com, by the way, 'vesco' a north-central variant of 'vescovo,' which translates to 'bishop' in italian... just to get that out of the way). it's where the vintage used to be, in a multi-story red brick house just a shade to the east of selby-dale. the decor, as i very dimly recall, is a bit lighter and more italian, they've kept the fireplaces. on their third floor, they have a lounge where they do jazz or other events now and then. i would say it would make a very good 'date' place.

the server was very knowledgeable about the menu, even pointing out the things we may wish to avoid and telling us the things the printed menu left out (such as in a ravioli dish made with 'brasied beef tenderloin and chicken,' they left out the word 'livers.' that'd change your idea of a dish right quick. they left a few more bits off, too, such as in the 'arancini: fried rice balls stuffed with ragu & mozzarella cheese' that i gravitated towards, there's no mention in the menu description (pasted there from the actual menu) that there's two kinds of meat in that dish (oddly enough, the meat is not in the sauce, and i thought a ragu was typically a meat based sauce, besides a brand name). i am glad i asked.

so to quell my craving for fried things, we ended up with a 'quick fried calamari with lemon and sea salt' for the table ($12). it was very cripsy, and nice and while it seemed the majority of the table really liked the salt level, it may be a dish a shade too salty for others. i thought the calimari was a shade chewy, but not enough to ruin my enjoyment of crispy fried things.

il vesco vino has a three course dinner you can put together from a list of select soups or salads, select pasta (you get a half order), and some of the main courses for $38, none of us opted to go that route. i didn't as most of the items were meat-based. when i inquired about the arancini the server mentioned that a vegetarian pasta could be put together, but there were only pescatarian (i.e. fishies) choices for the main courses.

so for the first course, i opted for a salad of 'grilled pear and portabella mushroom salad with gorgonzola' over which they slapped a handful of microgreens ($9.50), probably as it's not the most visually appealing dish in the world. it had an interesting flavor mix and it's something that i'd eat again in a heartbeat, especially as it could probably be recreated at home (for a lot cheaper). it was supposed to be a warm salad, but by the time it hit the table it was barely that, and just got colder as i ate it. that was a shade disappointing. i suppose it had to do with the first floor seating and a third floor kitchen.

other starters were a 'romaine salad with rustic croutons, anchovy vinaigrette & pecorino' ($8.50) that had a dressing that was anchovy forward, but didn't hit you over the head with fish (see also: monty python's fish-slapping dance) and a creamy cup (complete with handle) of a 'slow roasted butternut squash soup with fresh crema & chestnut honey' ($6.50).

since most of the pastas likewise had meat, i ended up with a freshly made puttanesca ($13) that was spiced beyond what you typically get in a minnesota meal, and i was very happy about that. the menu description was 'spaghetti with tomato, olives, anchovy, capers, garlic & chilies' and you really taste the chilies. it's handmade pasta, so it's good, and it was also done spot on. but unlike in italian tradition, where you get a pasta with 'just enough' sauce, i had about twice as much sauce as pasta. since i was getting full, i ended up using some of the bread to scrape/swab up a lot of the sauce with an eye towards leftovers. the bread was quite good when it was served warm, less so when cool, like a lot of breads. good thing the baskets were always served warm.

other main course picks were a rich, filling fetucini in a lamb and white wine light cream sauce with capers ($17, i think) and and excellent 'grilled beef tenderloin with roasted red peppers, potatoe puree & anchovy butter sauce' ($24). nothing but praise for those dishes. someone picked a barbera d'alba (2003 or 2004) to go with the meat dishes, which once you hit the capers in the pasta paired well with both. the place is owned by the same people who own oseria i nonni and buon giorno, who are said to have (ahem) connections, so you'll see wines here that you'll only typically see in italy, and maybe similarly 'connected' restaurants in new york city, and at a reasonable price, too.

we checked the dessert menu, and nothing really called to us, so we asked the server if the kitchen could put together a cheese plate. they did, and i think they based it on the antipasti item 'chef selection of salumi, cheese, grilled vegetables, olives & fried pizza dough' with only the cheeses, with a $17.50 menu price. we ended up with large portions of a cheddar or jack with red pepper, a pecorno romano, and a gorgonzola with yet more microgreens for some reason (the chestnut honey that was in the butternut squash soup would've been a more logical add than the microgreens, but hey, i'll cope). we requested bread with it.

it would've been a nicer dessert plate had they thrown on the goat cheese they had on their menu instead of the red pepper cheese, but hey, we got large piles of all three cheeses, and it was $11. the gorgonzola (the same as in the pear/mushroom salad) was most excellent. someone went for an excellent moscato d'asti here (best with the gorgonzola), and others had the balvenie single barrel 15 scotch (nice with the pepper cheese, apparently).

as for the beverage round-up, i had water, being that i was more or less heavily sedated... er... on lots more allergy meds than usual. so interesting.

the grade range was pretty narrow this time, from a- to b+ to b+/b, and there's something to be said for a place that can please so many (including those who are perhaps more... critical? bad restaurant karma-y?).