Occasionally, you come across a restaurant, caffe or bar which just hits all the buttons correctly. For us this occurred last evening at Caffe Vini Emilio Ranzini.
I don’t want to call this place a hole in the wall, but that is the first impression a foreigner, an American, will have. All in all it might measure twenty by thirty feet inside, sixty or seventy square feet maximum, including the bar. But, the food is unmatched by other restaurants much larger in size. So, either there is a huge kitchen somewhere we could not see, or the chef is a magician.
To be honest, there is an outdoor patio in the back where they are able to seat perhaps another forty or so guests. We were fortunate this evening to get our own table inside next to the door and near the bar, to watch all the comings and goings (people watching is an acceptable hobby in Italy.)
A Piola Menu
As can be seen by the rather large display above, the menu is displayed on the wall. This is typical for a Piola, a Torinese-style restaurant that has daily offers of food at reasonable prices (or in Italian, a termine piemontese dal significato di osteria, bar).
For our dinner we selected the Salami and Cheese plate for two. To accompany this, we also ordered the vinegar roasted zucchini squash, roasted peppers and Polpette di Carni (or hot meatballs).
The meat tasted as one would expect, a nice selection of salami and prosciutto. The cheese selection was very good, especially the blue cheese which reminded us of a Stilton and the other whiter cheese above which reminded us of a sharp white cheddar.
The meatballs and zucchini were to die for. It was actually difficult to tell what kind of meat, were in the meatballs (and frankly we were afraid to ask since horsemeat is an acceptable meat in Italy.) But, the spices and the particular way in which they were cooked (it looked like deep-frying but not sure it was), was very tasty. The squash on the other hand was served cold, but the vinegar gave it such a pop in your mouth, you wanted to order more.
The Wine
This specific place also sports a rather nice wine list. Since we were looking for something red to pair with the meatballs, salami and cheese, we went with a nice Barbera. The Nizza from San Luigi, 2015 was an excellent choice. Dry and aromatic with fruity overtones of cherry, it combined very nicely with our meal. A wine which is sure on my short list of choices when I visit my local wine store in the future!
In Conclusion
Though it was our evening out to celebrate our 37th anniversary, we had expected to spend a bit more. So, when the bill came and it came to a total of 37€, we were delightfully surprised. Not only because we thought it so inexpensive, but that we got such good food and atmosphere at such an affordable and reasonable price.
We are sure the menu changes often, weekly at least, perhaps even daily. Our plans are to go back for lunch. One word of caution. They do have Summer hours (9:30-2:30, 5:30-8:30) starting in June, which are reduced from the hours posted on Google. However, we would recommend this place for either lunch or dinner and it’s just two blocks off of via Garibaldi!
5.0 stars!
Great post 🙂