Vero Ristorante Italiano, Palo Alto
After walking past it a million time, it was a pleasant surprise to find an Italian crew leading the charge at Vero Ristorante Italiano, in downtown Palo Alto. Vero is an unpretentious spot less than half a block off University, on Bryant street. Two outdoor tables, a large open kitchen, and a simple menu appealing to the most basic of Italian flavors- and some of the best in the Southern Italian kitchen.
We started dinner with the Assaggi, a selection of three out of eight small tasting plates. We picked the marinated caciocavallo cheese, diced up and marinated in extra virgin olive oil and red peppers, cracked olives, a plate of large green fresh olives, and marinated anchovies, with pine nuts, white rasins, and raw onions. All these dishes were quite good, and in particular the extra virgin olive oil was great. I like freshly pressed olive oil with a strong green flavor, typical of Southern Italy, and that’s exactly what all the dishes were prepared with. In addition, the bread they served us with these plates was amazing- crunchy crust and soft interior, just like at home!
As our habit, we ordered pasta. I think pasta is the dish that tells me most about whether the kitchen is working in an Italian way or not. Pasta is supposed to be al dente, with a generous sauce, and well seasoned. It’s impressive how many so-called “Italian” restaurants fail this simple test! At Vero, though, I was not disappointed: the orecchiette with sausage, broccoli rabe, onions and bread crumbs were executed with the traditional Pugliese recipe, and they were delicious! The ricotta gnocchi were also good, although I found a bit lacking in flavour: the delicate gnocchi were topped with melted brown butter, sage and shaved pecorino. However, I felt that there was not enough sage for the dish to be perfect. Nevertheless the ingredients were great, and the result was a very good dish!
In terms of wine list, I really appreciated seeing some unusual wines. I ordered a Pignoletto, a sparkling, easy white wine that is often drank in my region during the summer. It was great to see so many wines from Cesari, an Italian producer from my area that makes very honest, down-to-earth wines.
We ended dinner with dessert: Tiramisu’ and Salame di Cioccolato (”chocolate salami”- crumbled cookies mixed with chocolate powder, nuts and butter). Both desserts were good, but neither was memorable- they had run out of their special dessert, and we’ll have to be back again to try it!
Vero Ristorante Italiano
530 Bryant Street
Palo Alto, CA 94301
tel. 650.325.8376
Filed under: Peninsula, Restaurants
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