Vin Santo - 9-25-09

After a long, long week, we decided to treat ourselves to dinner and a drink. I had not been to Vin Santo in a while, and Lib had not been there at all. We headed out around 7, and the restaurant was crowded but not full, so we were quickly seated at a table towards the back of the main seating area after saying a quick hello to the owner Craig, who seemed a bit harried that evening!

The new menu looked good, with four sections - small plates of dips and breads, appetizer/tappas, pizza and main courses which could be ordered either as a full meal or as a half portion for tappas. There seemed to be a lot of "homemade" items, including the mozzarella and we had a hard time deciding what to have. In the end, we decided on the calamari (the version on the menu was replaced by a new preparation), the stuffed mozzarella, the half-portion of the hangar steak entree, and the half-portion of the Agnolotti with fresh mushrooms.

We started with the calamari and the mozzarella. The calamari was sauteed with spinach, Israeli couscous, onions and garlic in a tomato broth. The flavor of the dish was terrific, and it had a little "hotness" to it, which was nice but not overwhelming. There was a lot of broth, which almost made it a soup - it would have been nice to have a little less broth, though we both worked through a few pieces of break to sop it up! The mozzarella was in the form of "pinwheels" stuffed with prosciutto and roasted red peppers, the slices were stacked with fresh tomatoes and then was topped with baby arugula. The flavors were very good, and the arugula was a perfect complement to the dish. I may have left the tomatoes out as they were a bit overpowering.

After the plates were cleared, we had a little time to enjoy our drinks before the next "course" came out, which included our hanger steak and agnolotti. The steak came sliced over Israeli couscous, and topped with sauteed tri-color slices of peppers. The couscous had the drippings of the beef combined with a very nice olive oil, which gave the dish an extra richness that went very well with the beef. The peppers were cooked perfectly, and the beef was cooked rare, though it had been ordered medium rare (though, anyone who has had a hangar steak knows that it is a tender cut that works very well rare). The only complaint was the beef itself could have been seasoned a little more (salt and pepper), but overall the dish was rich and flavorful and excellent. The agnolotti (small ravioli) were good, though they were either undercooked or the dough was not made well, as they had a bit of a chalky texture to them. The flavor was excellent, and the sauce - a creamy mushroom "ragu" (I would not call it a ragu!) - was excellent - not too heavy and very flavorful. Again, much bread was used to clean the plate of the last drops of sauce.

This was a lot of food, so we skipped dessert and I finished my wine while Lib enjoyed a cappuccino. Our server was very friendly, attentive and helpful with the menu and specials. She also told us we missed the show of a male stripper entertaining a bachelorette party - I responded that we didn't miss anything! Finally, the "feel" of the restaurant is great, especially when filled with diners, though the din can get a bit loud at times.

The total bill, with one drink and two glasses of wine, came to $77 without tip - a good deal in our opinion.

The meal was just what we wanted, and it left us looking forward to visiting again.

I would give this visit 3.5 "gluts." The few small preparation missteps kept if from being a 4.0.