Here the grilled chop is fork-tender and bursting with juicy meat flavor, and the fresh salad topping, with added marinated tomatoes, perfectly balances the richness. Other appealing dishes range from the complex elegance (housemade tortellini Tatiana, filled with asiago cheese and pears, in a light pink sauce) to typically Italian perfect simplicity (huge langostinos, grilled with olive oil and lemon).
First impressions are sometimes confusing. Coming in from a sunny street, what strikes diners entering Caffe Abbracci at once is how dark the restaurant's dining room is at lunch. Feels mysterious, belying the fact that this is a power-lunch destination where people come to see and be seen.
The dining room, amid flowers, burl wood ceilings and green marble accents, makes for a warm and elegant atmosphere either at lunch or dinner and regular guests enjoy a lively ambience.
Host and owner Nino Pernetti is restaurateur extraordinaire. He knows everyone who is anyone and if he doesn't recognize you, it means you haven't arrived. This can be wonderful if you are one of these special patrons, but sometimes a bit disconcerting if you are not.
Sure, the food is good, and you can order from the menu any number of Venetian dishes, but it is Nino's special kind of magic that gives the place a touch of the extraordinary. He greets you, he seats you, he asks you what you want, (never mind the menu), he commands someone to look after you, he repeats the dance, and in a few minutes is at your side again. You get the impression that all this man wants to do is look after you and make absolutely sure that you are happy. But, to make sure you are going to get that special treatment you will have to become a regular.
At lunch, appetizers ($6 to $7) include several carpaccios; smoked salmon; fried calamari and zucchini in a marinara sauce. Aside from a classic Caesar ($6.25 to $11), salads ($6.25 to $11) include a platter of mixed grilled vegetables in season and tuna, green beans, artichokes and tomatoes in another combination.
Wide selection of pasta
Pasta ($12 to $18) includes cannelloni filled with roasted veal and vegetables in a light tomato sauce; angel hair pasta with fresh tomatoes and basil; linguine with an array of fish and seafood also in tomato sauce; spaghetti with grilled vegetables; fettuccine served with a sauce of chicken broth and white wine, and morsels of chicken in a spicy marinade.
Main courses ($13.50 to $15) include grilled red snapper on a bed of arugula and grilled tenderloin of beef with wild mushrooms ($15) tender and juicy, perfectly cooked and full of flavor, the wild mushrooms making a nice juxtaposition of taste with the meat.
Lamb chops ($15) with a balsamic-rosemary sauce are strong on flavor, quite good. The chops seem small, but large enough for lunch. A grilled large veal scaloppine is topped with a deeply flavored herb and olive oil marinade. There are always specials to round off the menu and all entrees are served with either soup or salad. The menu is straightforward and quite large.
Dinner offers an even grander variety of choices and specials. Carpaccios are on the appetizer list ($7 to $13), along with fresh goose liver with chopped portobellos; warm goat cheese with herbs; mussels in white wine sauce.
Sauteed sea scallops ($9), served with canellini beans, come in a wine sauce which on a recent evening seemed so reduced as to make it unpleasantly salty. The sauce overwhelmed the delicate scallops as well as the tender beans. Soft shell crab was served as a special, and it didn't fare much better. It was very similar in taste to the scallops, salty, and with a too generous sprinkling of fresh rosemary. Although our plates went back half full, our waiter never asked if anything was wrong.
Too much seasoning?
Seafood items ($19.50 to $23) include tuna with rosemary; swordfish with herbs; salmon with saffron; shrimp with fennel; as well as the trio Veneziano ($19.50), which consists of grilled tuna, swordfish, and shrimp splashed with oil and lemon juice. So far so good. However, this dish, too, was sprinkled with too much rosemary. And while there is nothing intrinsically wrong with fresh rosemary, it can be an overpowering flavor if not used cautiously, and here it seemed to simply dominate the whole menu.
Grilled entrees ($16 to $25) are chicken with spinach; sirloin steak topped with oyster mushrooms; lamb chops prepared with grain mustard and Barolo wine, and several veal dishes.
The veal chop with sage ($25) was nicely prepared, tender and nicely flavored with a veal sauce. It was by far the best dish of the evening. Other selections include a large array of pastas ($15 to $19.50) and several risottos ($18 to $20).
Desserts are the usual suspects: tiramisu, chocolate mousse cake, and berries with zabaglione among others. The chocolate mousse cake was particularly light and airy. Caffe Abbracci is quite an experience and when everything is going well, it can be delightful. Unfortunately, sometimes the food doesn't live up to its promise and the service is little more than perfunctory if you're not a regular.
