What Do You Think of Vespaio?

[claire797]

We finally had dinner there Saturday night. Miracle of all miracles, the wait was only 15 minutes.

I had chicken stuffed with morels in truffle sauce and polenta and my husband had the hanger steak and frites.

This is a great little neighborhood joint with one major drawback. The noise! Maybe it's because we sat near the center of the room, but the place was deafeningly loud. Has anyone else noticed this?

We liked Vespaio but would like to try some other Italian restaurants in Austin. Any suggestions?

[Jaymes]

First of all - we're having another Austin eGullet chowdown - this Sunday, 22 Sept, 6pm at T&S Chinese. Now that you're here, maybe you can make it!

I love Vespaio. They had the best Esalata Caprese there I've had outside of Italy. Been several times, and it's always wonderful.

I don't like waiting and I don't like noise, so always go weeknights just as the place opens.

Reale's, for the "typical" American-Italian is I think quite good, and on the Austin food thread, several other people mention it as well. It's family owned and operated - an Italian-American family from New York.

You should check on the Austin Food thread - there are lots of good recommendations. Vespaio is mentioned several times.

So, about Sunday????

[foodie52]

Jaymes: where is Reales??? I thought I knew about every restaurant in town, but that one stumps me!

Looking forward to T&S. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

[claire797]

Um. Guess I'd better get back over on the Austin thread where I belong.

T&S sounds fun. Believe it or not, I'd never heard of it until this thread. I may just join you guys there.

Jaymes, I will check out Reale's....yet another one I haven't heard of. And here I thought I'd at least *heard* of them all.

[NewYorkTexan]

Reales is on 183 and Anderson Mill, in the shopping center. The owners used to live in Queens Village and had a pizza joint on long island. I think they probably have the best pizza pies in Austin.

For individual slices, I think Saccones is clearly the best in Austin. They are located just a few lights north of Reales on 183.

[coolranch]

Reale's is great! Our friends that moved here from Hoboken say it reminds them of their old 'hood.

Saccone's has fantastic pizza---I just wish someone would open a NY/NJ pizza place south of the river.

[frankj]

I think Vespaio is not nearly so good as it was. I used to love it.

When I ate there recently, the menu had changed considerably so that it had lots of pastas and pizzas but very few traditional entrees.

Both the mixed seafood and mixed carne grills were quite good but you really don't have much choice beyond that. They no longer had the fabulous duck dish that helped make their reputation.

[foodie52]

There were 5 or 6 specials last night: I had the osso bucco with a green pea puree and mushrooms, and served also with freshly made gnocci. Very tasty. I loved the antipasti! And the bread. AND our waiter, Aaron, who was attentive and funny , magically there when we needed something, and otherwise out of the way. Ask for him when you go there.

It was my first time there, and I'll definitely go back. Let's face it: it's the closest to authentic northern Italian food in Austin...

[claire797]

There were 5 or 6 specials last night: I had the osso bucco with a green pea puree and mushrooms, and served also with freshly made gnocci. Very tasty. I loved the antipasti! And the bread. AND our waiter, Aaron, who was attentive and funny , magically there when we needed something, and otherwise out of the way. Ask for him when you go there.

It was my first time there, and I'll definitely go back. Let's face it: it's the closest to authentic northern Italian food in Austin...

I can't wait to go back. I'd like to try one of their wood-fired pizzas, though I have to admit I was a little put off by "Wild Boar Sausage". What does this taste like? Is it very gamey?

We also had a really good Chianti which I can't seem to find anywhere -- I've looked at Central Market and H.E.B. The Chianti was called "Chianti Classico Riserva Ottosanti"......keyword -- Ottosanti.

Has anyone seen this around town? This was the best Chianti I've ever had.

[foodie52]

Chances are you won't find that wine in any retail outlet. Some wines seem to have two allocations: either restaurant OR retail...not both. So if you like a particular one, there's a good chance that you'll never get to buy it! When I find a wine at a restaurant that I'm excited about, I usually go to my wine steward at the store, give him the name of the wine, and get him to find me something similar. It also helps if you can give him the bottle price at the restaurant: then he can do a mental markdown and figure out what price range the wine is in.

[claire797]

Foodie52,

Believe it or not, we found the Ottosanti at Grapevine Market! I highly recommend this Chianti to all of you. We shared the Riserva with some friends who are very into Italian wines and they agreed the the Ottosanti was one of the best they'd tried.