There are times that for no reason other than having the one you love waking-up besides you is reason enough to celebrate the day, the week, and life in general. On those days it takes a special type of restaurant to sustain -or create- a mood fitting of that occasion.
Via Veneto on Main Street in Santa Monica, is perfectly suited for one of those days.
The perfect kind.
The perfect kind of day that celebrates love, an anniversary, a special occasion, or a quite simply just the two of you...
On those perfect days, you drive to Santa Monica only to realize that although you're in the middle of it all, you have just stepped into a restaurant that is far removed from it all...and it's almost as if you have discovered a secret hideaway....
Expect to leave behind your day, your worries, and life...and invite Via Veneto do what they do best...delight their guests with an upscale Italian menu that uses organic, locally grown and sourced ingredients that create a luxury Italian dining experience.
While the menu offers a large selection of Roman-inspired dishes, Via Veneto prides itself for it's selection of sophisticated handmade pastas, while their in-house grill-master has perfected their veal scaloppine and juicy filetto di manzo. Via Veneto also offers an extensive dessert menu and enviable wine selection that pairs perfectly which each course.
All items on the menu can be ordered a la carte, but my recommendation is to let yourself experience Via Veneto by giving your well-versed waiter a few guidelines and ordering the tasting menu. Wine drinkers can also pair their wine with each course with either a selection from the in-house sommelier, or choose your own from a selection.
I also recommend that you start your dinner with the the cheese platter and olives, which is accompanied by a truffle-infused honey and country bread.
We gave our waiter carte blanche for our tasting menu, with our only request being that the octopus be included as one of the four items in our antipasto platter.
While everything presented in our antipasto platter was delicious, the octopus was like nothing I had ever had...
The octopus was cooked, then thinly sliced before drizzled with olive oil and garnished with grilled campari tomato. It was absolutely delightful.
For our first course we were served a selection of raviolis and my personal request, risotto with fresh-shaved black truffles.
While I expected the risotto to be delightful, the ravioli was most impressive due to it's thin pasta shell that simply melted in your mouth before your taste buds exploded when the ricotta met the sweet red sauce.
For our seafood main course, we were given a selection of branzino, which is a meaty Italian sea bass and langostinos, a smaller version of a lobster, but sweeter and with a nicer texture.Both were cooked to perfection and served with a light butter sauce and garnished with chopped tomatoes.
The meat main course included house-made Italian sausage, veal scaloppine with porcini mushroom sauce, and grilled prairie land, bone-in veal chop, cooked with butter and sage.
Let me preface by saying that I usually find veal quite gamey...but not at Via Veneto. It was butter and absolutely melted in my mouth. My hubby devoured this dish. Devoured.
Both our seafood and meat platters were presented with vegetables, our favorite being the garlic spinach and oven-roasted potato side-dish.
For our final course our waiter recommended that we try an Italian dessert wine followed by a selection of their most popular sweets, including the tiramisu, chocolate profiteroles, berry panna cotta, and my personal favorite and the crowning jewel for the evening's dinner: the Nutella tart.
The tasting menu at Via Veneto was an absolutely beautiful experience that I recommend you enjoy for your next special occasion...or quite simply, a day that you give-in to the love that you have around you.
Via Veneto
3009 Main St.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 399-1843 (Advance dinner reservations required)
Ana Lydia
