Close, and Yet So Far

A rare showing: Pan-seared tuna over baby greens, drizzled in chili oil and balsamic demi-glace. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Valentino's location ensures cheery (if noisy) pre-show crowds, but not all of the dishes are great performances.

by Maxine Keyser

From the outside, it looks like a rustic trattoria, with its cheery red and yellow facing and its climbing plants. Inside, the appearance continues -- one wall is exposed brick beneath stucco, the other is deep red, and the floors are stone. Paintings of Italian scenes entwined with flowers are the decoration. There is a bit of a wait for our table, as we learn a valuable lesson -- make reservations at Valentino for after 7:30 p.m. on a concert night, for the crowd going to the opera and the Kimmel Center will empty out at that time.

Eventually the happy manager, Mario, greets us, and we are seated, our wine is opened, and an antipasto of chick peas and beans, caponata of eggplant, roasted peppers, artichoke hearts and pecorino cheese appears before us, along with a basket of Faragelli's terrific bread and foccacia. The noise level was deafening when we arrived, but with the dispersal of the crowd it quiets down, and we settle into a more Italian, mellow mood.

The feeling continues throughout the first course, when we taste plump mussels cooked in red sauce but served on the half shell, and excellent carpaccio, blood red beneath a mesclun salad with shaved parmigiano and a drizzle of truffle oil. Grilled bodies of squid, like virginal maidens in a medieval crypt, are tender and taste of the grill, but why is there aioli sauce advertised on the menu? It doesn't seem to belong in an Italian restaurant. Nor does a Caesar salad, but it turns out to be very tasty, with crisp lettuce, crunchy croutons and the right amount of cheese and anchovies.

There is a large list of daily specials. One is agnoletti (half moons) stuffed with ricotta and spinach -- which, unfortunately, we find too tough. We try as well the gnocchi with fresh tomato sauce, and though it is touted as homemade, it is much too heavy. Even the linguine Ciro, tossed with pine nuts, raisins, fennel and sardines, never comes close to the original pasta con sardo, the famed Sicilian dish on which it is modeled. We should be able to taste the sardines, and there should be more play between sweet and sour in the saucing. The pastas have not been a success, but we still have hopes for the entrees. The menu list is fairly short, so we have mostly the specials of the day.

The roast duck is perfectly done, with crackly skin and wonderfully perfumed dark and tender meat. The rack of lamb produces four double chops in a hunter-type sauce, dark and based with tomatoes and red wine. They too are done perfectly, rare as requested and toothsome. Salmon and shrimp in a pesto sauce are also successful -- not overcooked, as can often be the case, and with just the right amount of that tart green sauce to make the dish interesting.

But what truly Italian restaurant would serve mashed potatoes and tough, out-of-season asparagus as the only vegetables with each dish? We are puzzled as well by the tuna steak, quite rare within but strangely pallid on the surface, reclining on a tossed salad. It is as if all these vegetables were an afterthought, and the chef can only concentrate on the main dish. Even the presentations are slipshod. Perhaps they were not prepared for the onslaught of people that started to come in after the post-concert lull. Locals and parties of six or more, bearing many bottles, appeared and the noise became almost unbearable, although the atmosphere was always cheery.

Of the two desserts we order, the tiramisu turns out to be the best, although it could taste more of coffee and rum. The profiteroles are as if from another planet; the pastry shells are filled with cream, but they are smeared with a chocolate mousse-type concoction that renders them soggy and gloppy.

There is a motto on the menu: "In cooking, as in all Art, simplicity is a sign of perfection." Valentino should heed these words. The quality of the raw materials is fine, and they need very little embellishment. Sticking to basics, the antipasti are quite good, and so are some of the main dishes. I'd try the risotto al frutti de mare or the penne puttanesca on a return visit, and maybe the veal paillard with fresh herbs. The noise, unfortunately, I can't do a thing about. This is what results when an attractive BYOB opens, with bearable prices, in a very good location. Come to Valentino on an off night, and see what happens. At present, they are building an addition next door, which should ease the noise level, and allow the kitchen more time to perfect the dishes.