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In an area suffering a drought of good food, D'Amico Pasta Grill offers relief with legitimate chefs, quality offerings and good prices.
By CHRIS SHERMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 31, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- In an inauspicious strip center in the Gateway area, another effort is under way to remake that staple of American life, the neighborhood Italian place.
It's been tried before, but this is one attempt that could hang out the rare shingle saying "Two Guys Who Are Chefs." Really. Two real chefs who got their licks, nicks, cuts and burns cooking entrees at twice the price. And one of them is Italian. That would be Ralph Sitero, lastly of Bellarte and formerly of Ashley Street Grille. He and Steve Cook, from the kitchens of Mise en Place, are partners with Tony D'Amico in D'Amico Pasta Grill.
The place got its first kiss of garlic as the Italian Pavilion some years ago. It is in one of the few clumps of restaurants and shops that add life, if not warmth, to the Take-out City patch of garden apartments above Gandy. The area could use a good meal, let alone the good fortune to have two pros cooking Italian -- and answering the phone and hustling around the kitchen.
They are doing much that neighborhood Italian places have always done. A Bucs-flag-waving promo in the window pitches two cheese pizzas for $10 on Sundays. Calzones are larger than footballs every day. And there is entertainment, including classical guitar on Mondays and a Sinatra impersonator on Saturdays (that's a come-on to some, a warning to others).
Stuffed pizza has regulation sausage and pepperoni inside but a clever lattice crust on top. Bread is dense, crusty stuff. The salad might be black currants, walnuts and creamy cheese on arugula, or cold vermicelli with cabbage and almonds. Or it might be a good mixed salad with the familiar not-so-good tomatoes.
Order antipasto at dinner and you get a plate heaped with a few good things: big chunks of fresh Parmesan, slices of prosciutto, snap-crackle-crispy bread sticks and those sweet water-cured Cerignola olives. The last are a chef's favorite.
So is the seafood tiramisu. That's a confection of lobster-crab souffle on risotto cakes that Sitero concocted for pricier precincts, and if it's out of place next to red-sauce pastas, it's a bargain at $15.
Most of the menu is not nearly so radical or fusion-powered. The fettuccine Alfredo is made properly, so creamy and rich you know you can't eat much. You're eating way up on the hog even before they pair it with herb-crusted pork.
Classic linguine with clams features shellfish fresh and plentiful in and out of the shell. And at $10, it's priced right, like most of the menu. There's welcome sanity in two bucks buying a side of Caesar and a bowl of great pasta e fagioli, rich with tomato and beans.
D'Amico also promises to tackle the regional tastes I hunger for. A shrimp appetizer Venetian style, for instance, samples Venice's Levantine flavors, with pine nuts, raisins and saffron. Makes you want more.
On the other hand, spaghetti Bolognese merely gives a fancy name to the zesty meat 'n' tomato sauces that we all love, but I'd like see it closer to the intense ragu of Emilia-Romagna, porkier and winier, with deeper flavors. Next time I'll try puttanesca pleasures with the spice of olives and anchovy.
I can't vouch for the veal, but that's my fault, because I had it saltimbocca style, and the ham and cheese embellishment gooes up much of the flavors. Still, the meat was more tender than most, the sauce slickly done and the fresh sage an invigorating touch.
Cavatelli, the one pasta made on the premises, was plain stuff and overcooked for me. Pizza comes in the familiar forms, plus white and Italian varieties trimmed with the likes of Gorgonzola and clams.
Prepared pizzas, calzone and salads are the best deals for the daytime office crowd. Entrees of manicotti and grilled chicken with penne weren't so hot -- or warm. I'd rather see two guys who are chefs show what they can do with Italian sandwiches (although this end of town has solid practitioners of that art, notably City Deli in the same shopping center and the Sangwich Block on Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) St. N.
Dessert can be as familiar as cannoli but with richer, fresh pistachio filling than you've had, or more adventurous, such as a slick panna cotta custard with merlot and black cherry. A cheese plate was a special indulgence, ruffled cheese from Umbria with greens punched up with truffle oil and bread toasts.
Despite a few flaws -- the espresso machine is finally in; polished operation is not -- my dinners came with graces we don't expect at these prices. Eating bean soup from a bowl trimmed with ornate red and gold makes you feel like Nonna not only cooked it herself but served it on the last piece of family china she had tucked away.
Pretty flatware is only a prop. The extra that counted was service, from treating single woman diners with respect to knowing the food and its pronunciation -- and loving it as much as the chefs do.
This is the start of something good -- make that several somethings: good service, good food, good prices. Let's eat.
11002 Fourth Street N, St. Petersburg
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday; 2 to 10 p.m. Saturday; 2 to 9 p.m. Sunday.
Details: Beer, wine, no smoking, wheelchair accessible, credit cards
Features: Take-out, entertainment.
Prices: $9 to $15.