Monday, April 30, 2012

Classics Goes Green at Via Vite


Saturday April 21

We've been to this restaurant before, and enjoyed it.  Now we were going as guests of today's Graduate Student conference, Classics Goes Green, a very suitable topic for the day before Earth Day.  Bea, who had made the arrangements, saw to it that the restaurant did us proud: not only was the Fountain Square location picturesque in itself, but it happened to be Prom Night, with many showily-attired young people to look at. 
We were seated upstairs at a large table in a private room, looking out on a nice terrace - a good thought for some warm night in the future, with drinks and comfortable sofas looking out on Fountain Square.
We got carafes of the house white and red, chatted with the participants, and pondered the menu.  Our appetizers ended up being a single octopus tentacle ("wild"!) curled around potato purée, in a piquant anchovy-lemon vinaigrette; and a warm Boucheron goat cheese blob, like a little saganaki, at the bottom of a pile of spring salad greens and pistachios, drizzled with raspberry white truffle vinaigrette.
For main courses, we got a succulent "overnight braised" lamb shank with dreamy, creamy polenta; and the special, sliced duck breast (a bit bland) with a very succulent fresh corn "flan" (yet another purée - but there's nothing wrong with purées).
The conversation sparkled, the food stood the test, and we think our visitors had as good a time as we did.

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