Credit cards: American Express, MasterCard, Diner's; Visa.
Access: Fully accessible.
VADOPAZZO
241 Hanover St., Boston
(617) 248-6800
Restaurant reviewed 06/09/97 by Alison Arnett
VadoPazzo means ''going crazy'' in Italian. It calls itself an ''enoteca,'' which translates as wine bar. Named for the way the tumult of construction made owner Franco DePasquale feel, the restaurant's title also mirrors the expanding Il Panino empire.
This spinoff, the first with a different name, is only blocks away from Il Panino Express, reviewed this week in Cheap Eats. Along with the original trattoria on Richmond Street, the two-restaurant, multifloored Trattoria Il Panino on Franklin street and several suburban Il Paninos, this restaurant adds to the explosion of casual, upscale places owned by DePasquale. Another, Tutto Mare, devoted exclusively to seafood, is slated to open on Salem Street in the North End in several weeks.
VadoPazzo is an attractive space on Hanover Street, with windows that open full-length onto the sidewalk and an urban verve that could be classified as European. At least the North End version of European chic. It's fun sitting here watching the passing throngs as long as one edits out the large CVS sign across the street and the noise that deafens conversation.
It's a lively scene on a weekend night as customers drift in for drinks or dinner, bathed in the soft light from blown glass fixtures. Regulars are greeted by the young staff; families with young children share pizzas and pastas. The servers, mostly young woman in tight tops that show every curve, offer the specials in Italian, correcting the diners' flawed pronounciations.
VadoPazzo's catchy name reverberates by the time one has dined there several times. It's the maddening menus that drove us crazy. The restaurant has marble-topped tables laid with heavy tableware and menus rolled up tightly in handsome silver-plated napkin rings. Nifty-looking, until one pulls the menu out and tries to read it. Just when the eye falls on a dish that looks enticing, the plasticized menu rolls up tightly again, slipping through the fingers. Another attempt and another is just as frustrating until finally it's necessary to place glassware and other objects on the edges to get a long enough look to contemplate ordering.
After that, the meal smooths out. The virtue of the cuisine at Il Panino restaurants is its restraint. Obviously, DePasquale and his chefs, most of them from the coastlines of Italy, know Italian food and don't fool with the basics too much. The pastas are not oversauced; the ingredients are uniformly good. Care is taken with everything from pizzas to meats not to tease the food into forms and flavors that don't match the cuisine. As DePasquale says in a phone interview, the simpler the preparation, the more Italian it is.
VadoPazzo reveals its purpose as a wine bar by offering a long list of small plates, called sfizi, translated as ''cravings.'' Marinated anchovies are tangy in taste and firm under the teeth. A salad of arugula and shrimp has a light vinaigrette that shows off the tiny shellfish and doesn't drown the delicate greens. A dish of grilled calamari features the whole creature, not just the tentacles; the grilling makes the tender flesh smoky and again a modicum of dressing adds a piquant flavor. Sauteed broccoli rabe was perfect for a garlic fanatic, although of all the antipasti, this was the only one that was limp, as though cooked too far ahead of time. Carpaccio of tuna gleamed in paper-thin, fresh slices and was dressed with just olive oil and lemon juice.
The rest of the menu is based on themes, such as pizzas or carpaccios, with variations, plus a few entrees and some specials. The pizzas, cooked in a brick oven visible from the dining room, were delicious with thin, crispy crusts and a moderate amount of embellishment. The classic tomato and cheese was devoured happily by an 11-year-old, while we older members of the party liked the sheets of proscuitto, slightly salty and moist, laid over a thin crust with just a little chopped tomato, cheese and oil in pizza al prosciutto crudo. The chef even graciously catered to teenage girls who wanted pizza primavera with grilled broccoli, zucchini and red peppers made without cheese or oil. It was actually quite good, although certainly a break from tradition.
Risotto, the darling of diners right now, is a specialty of VadoPazzo and presented in many guises. Served with seafood and black squid ink, the risotto was well-prepared, the proper consistency of moist but not too soupy, the bits of squid still distinct amid the grains of rice stained black with squid ink. However, as I so often find with risotto served in the United States, the serving is overly generous. The purpose, I suppose, is to make it seem like an entree portion. But eating it gets boring after a while, more black rice than one wants to chew through.
The list of entrees is short and upstaged by the specials of the day. Grilled salmon, a large and carefully done filet, was served on a sparkling arugula salad. Beef Florentine, cooked just as rare as requested, proved the benefits of simplicity for meat, only good olive oil and lemon wedges to augment the flavors.
Homemade tagliatelle, wonderfully firm to the bite, was combined with shrimp, scallops and mussels and a modest amount of bright-tasting tomato sauce for a marvelous dish. The shellfish was abundant enough and still held a briny taste of the sea but didn't overwhelm the pasta. Ricotta gnocchi, also made on the premises, was another pleasing dish, served with an intense tomato sauce.
VadoPazzo is a wine bar and the list of 400 bottles stretches over many pages, very impressive for a North End restaurant. The wait staff seems prepared to answer questions, make recommendations, especially on Italian wines. Our server was prompt about admitting a bottle was corked, with musty taste, and quick to replace it.
Of the desserts displayed on a tray, the best was a moist tiramisu, with enough of an alcoholic punch to enliven the custard and cake. A triple chocolate cake, in the dense, flourless tradition, was also good.
VadoPazzo's best attribute stayed true through several visits: Going crazy doesn't apply to the food; that's played straight.
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