We had dinner at Ventuno last Friday, and it again proved itself one of the island’s top restaurants. The menu may seem confusing at first, but it really is divided into Antipasti, Primi (mostly pasta dishes), Secondi (mostly meat dishes), some snacks, and Dolci (desserts).
Unlike a lot of other restaurants, Ventuno still serves bread, a half loaf of terrific ciabatta for $6. You can get it with butter, olive oil, or probably both. It’s crusty and excellent!
We started with five local oysters with a grapefruit granita for $21. The grapefruit ice blended well with the oyster liquor to make a wonderful start to the meal.
One of us ordered their outstanding Caesar salad with romaine. Celery, ciabatta-parmesan croutons and Caesar dressing ($19).
For one entrée, we ordered Agnello: slow cooked and grilled lamb coppa ($48). Coppa is an unusual cut, in that it is part of the collar of muscles that extend from the loin. There are only two per animal, so it is fairly rare. Usually it is cooked slowly, resulting in really tender piece of meat. In this case, it is grilled briefly for the flavor as well. It was some of the tenderest lamb we have ever tasted. It was served with heirloom polenta, broccoli rabe, and a caper-anchovy gremolata.
For our other entrée, we ordered Capesante e Gamberi: grilled shrimp and Nantucket sea scallops, served with house bacon, grilled spring onions, spring peas herb gremolata, parsnip crema an preserved lemon piccata($51).
Finally, we split a dessert called Bomboloncini ($15): bittersweet chocolate filled donuts, coffee gelato and chocolate sauce. A delightful end to an outstanding meal. The bill, with two glasses of wine, including tax, but before tip was $233.26. It was one of the best meals we had during our visit.