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Fettuccine primavera
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Sogliola aurora
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Strawberry Grand Marnier cake
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Lombatine di maiale alla pizzaiola
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Interior of La Grotta
Many Richmonders think of La Grotta as a beloved local institution, a homey, red-sauce Italian spot that hearkens to a simpler, less splashy time, decades before the city’s food scene began to attract national attention.
But even beloved institutions occasionally need a refresh. Last year, after 23 years in Shockoe Slip, chef and owner Antonio Capece and his wife, Andrea, shuttered their restaurant home and moved to the old Miller & Rhoads building on Broad Street — a bold reinvention, and one that gives the couple and their team some much-needed room to grow.
The new location — in the reinvigorated downtown arts district — is more spacious, with fashionably high ceilings and a back wall showing off the couple’s wine collection, but some of the low-lit, romantic coziness of the old space has been lost in translation.
Even so, on a recent Saturday night, the place was full of regulars joking with servers and couples celebrating special occasions; dessert plates decorated with chocolate “Happy Anniversary” messages made their way through the dining room more than once.
As befits a beloved, if transplanted, neighborhood spot, a dinner here doesn’t offer a lot in the way of surprises. Nor should it. All those who flock to La Grotta know exactly what they want: an old-school dinner out, with familiar-sounding dishes, white tablecloths, a good bottle of Barolo, and a server who knows when to pay you a little extra attention and when to leave you to your meal.
And Capece, who also co-ran Amici until 2015, knows how to deliver, for the most part. His heart is in Northern Italy, which means you should expect plenty of veal, beef and pork dishes and lots of handmade pastas in cream sauces.
That heaviness and richness calls for wine, and lots of it. The mostly Italian list is well-chosen and varied. If you’re in the mood to splurge, the Cellars Reserve list is more than 40 bottles long, but there are some excellent wines to be found at lower prices, like the glass of Gavi di Gavi that my well-drilled server was delighted to suggest as an accompaniment to the pork loin entree, a zesty preparation accented with capers, garlic, white wine and covered with a tomato sauce. The wine, bracing and mineral, was such a good complement to the richness of the pork and the brininess of the capers that it transformed a fine, if unremarkable, dish into something more memorable.
A second meal here wavered between great and passable — a little disappointing, considering that La Grotta is on the spendier end of Richmond restaurants; entrées hover around $25-30, and a five-course tasting menu goes for $58.
Still, there were hits: The first course, an octopus special offered that night, was bright and perfectly textured, the octopus shaved thinly and topped with a dab of salty roe.But the squash soup — the second special — was missing that same brightness. The insalata di campagna, a radicchio, fennel and tomato salad topped with shreds of prosciutto and thin shavings of Parmesan, was brought down by a mealy tomato, particularly disappointing given the gorgeous Hanover tomatoes sitting on my own counter at that time of year. Sole, sauteed and served with tomato, pine nuts and mushrooms in a white-wine sauce, was perfectly adequate, but no more than that.
A beet fettuccine, however, swirled in a cream sauce and decorated with porcini and asparagus, was earthy and rich, with bites of vivid green asparagus and perfectly cooked pasta — the star of the meal.
And the desserts this night were the epitome of old-school decadence: tiramisu and strawberry Grand Marnier cake, each soaked with boozy sweetness and layered with rich mascarpone, making for an over-the-top and satisfying end.
La Grotta, even in its newer, brighter home, is still not the sort of place you go to make discoveries; it is a place you go to affirm old truths — namely, that old-school Italian, even with some missteps, makes for a pleasing, wine-soaked, belly-filling night out.
3 1/2 out of 5 stars
529 E. Broad St.
804-644-2466
Hours: Monday to Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5 to 9:30 p.m.; Friday: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 5 to 10 p.m.; Saturday: 5 to 10 p.m.
Prices: $8.50 to $36, handicapped-accessible
