It isn’t easy being a creative chef off-Strip, and we’re talking far off-Strip. A case in point: the undeniably talented Alberto Tapia, chef-owner of the winsome new Viareggio on the city’s northern edge.
I don’t visit many restaurants up here, but it’s not for lack of desire. New communities at Centennial Hills and Aliante have increased the demand for upscale dining around here, but chefs like Tapia, who understand regional Italian cooking, still find that crowds want the basics.
Osso buco Milanese (veal); lasagna alla Bolognese; rigoincci di cioccolato al rhum (chocolate mousse)
That’s a pity. Because Tapia, a native Colombian raised in Sicily, worked for many years at New York City’s Felidia, for Lidia Bastianich, the mother of Joe Bastianich, who now has two wonderful venues at the Venetian along with his partner, Mario Batali. What that means is that Tapia is capable of turning out dishes from Lidia’s home province of Friuli, as well as Sicilian specialties, wonderful stuff that you just don’t see in the suburbs, such as arancini, fried stuffed rice balls, and frico, a potato, cheese and ham fritter.
But Tapia tried putting a few of these dishes on the menu when he first opened, and the response just wasn’t there. So what you can expect at Viareggio are dishes like antipasto, lasagna and veal scalloppini, with the only surprise, really, being the chef’s expertise.
I actually ate here when the space housed a Greek restaurant called the Honey Tree, and the charming trellised planters above your head are still here. Now, though, the restaurant is even more charming. The Tapias (his Serbian wife, Svezdana, aka Nina, runs the front of the house) have added paintings and statuary to these spacious, airy rooms, and songs like “Come Back to Sorrento” play in the background while you dine.
The truth is that I didn’t have a single bad dish when I dined here, and what most impressed me was the quality of ingredients. The salami and prosciutto in Tapia’s colorful antipasto, for instance, are imported, as are the olives; the marinated vegetables are fresh and crisp, especially the artichokes and peppers.
Bruschetta, toasted hunks of country white bread, come topped with huge chunks of ripe tomato and fresh mushroom. Carpaccio di manzo is razor-thin slices of beef topped with delicately dressed field greens and equally sheer slices of pungent imported cheese. The best hot appetizer might be a grilled Portobello mushroom the size of a small dinner plate, stuffed with mixed vegetables and crab meat. I’m partial to the chef’s fritto misto, a clever mélange of deftly fried calamari and zucchini, with a light cucumber sauce.
When it comes to pasta, Tapia’s hand is even firmer. When I eyeballed his conventional menu, I expected a more Americanized version of lasagna alla Bolognese, but he is doing it the way it is done in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna, where Bologna is a multilayered casserole with a delicate ragu and lots of creamy Bechamel sauce. Simply put, I’m coming back up here just for seconds.
Then there is the moon-shaped ravioli di formaggi, pillow-size pasta pockets filled with a rich, smooth ricotta filling. From Liguria comes the chef’s homemade pesto sauce, a classic version made with basil, cream and more cheese. Try it on gnocchi, potato flour dumplings that literally melt in the mouth.
Yes, there are risottos, tender rice dishes slow-stirred on the stove top. One comes with frutti di mare, shrimp, salmon, mussel, clam and calamari, but an uptown version with lobster and asparagus is worthy as well, for five bucks more.
Main courses tend to be richly sauced, in the classic Continental manner, and it’s only Tapia’s subtlety that redeems them. Cernia al carciofi, for example, is an impossibly buttery seared filet of fresh grouper in wine sauce with artichokes, but it’s so well-prepared you can’t stop eating it. The more Mediterranean branzino alla Livornese, filleted striped bass in a bath of onions, olives, tomatoes and capers, is nicely summery.
Perhaps my favorite meat dish here is quail al mattone, literally pressed under a brick before grilling, which would stand nicely on its own without the accompaniments—polenta, asparagus, a Portobello mushroom cap and an old-fashioned brandy sauce that I scraped off the bird before dismembering it.
There is a hearty New York steak with creamy mashed potatoes, and that excellent veal scalloppini, submerged in a mushroom and Marsala wine sauce. With all this, don’t miss one side dish, an amazing escarole and bean casserole that is a meal in itself.
Tapia has allowed his creative side to come out more at dessert. What he calls rigoincci is really the Hungarian chocolate square rigo Jancsi, a feather-light mousse on a piece of chocolate cake. The chef makes a terrific panna cotta, literally “cooked cream,” a rich custard, and his tiramisu rivals any in the city.
Viareggio
7121 W. Craig Road. 839-3333. Open Mon.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sun. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Suggested dishes: antipasto misto, $6.50; lasagna alla Bolognese, $14.50; quaglia al mattone, $18.50; rigoincci, $6.50.
Photograph by Iris Dumuk