Mia Cucina Su Cucina

Piccolo
5 Dudley avenue Venice, California 90291
phone 310.314.3222      ¦      www.piccolovenice.com

Piccolo is on the Santa Monica-Venice beachfront. Low-key and not easy to find, Piccolo offers something close to true regional Italian cooking.  

Recently, my friend and I arrive at 6pm. Vittorio Viotti, owner, and Roberto (BoBo) Ivan, chef, come out of the kitchen and both greet us warmly. We arrived for an early dinner because, I’ve never arrived when there wasn’t at least a short wait; on weekends it’s much longer. Piccolo doesn’t currently take reservations, although they are starting on November 1, 2008. On this night, the tables out front are empty, the wind is gusting off the ocean and it is enough to make every one want an indoor table. It is cold outside and I am glad that I brought a coat.

There are approximately 12 tables inside and there always seems to be people waiting on the stairs. The kitchen is no bigger than a home kitchen, I am not kidding, and with Ivan, two cooks and a few others back there, its close quarters. With a small kitchen and so few tables, everyone is close to each other. The tables by the kitchen are in big demand in the winter and in the summer the tables by the door are the ones most want, because of the heat from the kitchen.

The night we went my friend and I were in the mood for pure comfort food. On this night, cauliflower soup topped with lobster was the special. The soup was savory and silky with a touch of the lobster “sweet”. Our next course was the “Duck Prosciutto D’Anatra”, house made, the duck prosciutto is fan out on a plate, in the middle is a few micro greens, and this is drizzled with a bit of gorgonzola dressing. The prosciutto is buttery and with the contrast of the other flavors, this is a palate pleaser.

We then moved on to the main course, I had the Tagliatella Al Ragu Di Capriole-slow roasted venison ragu in a red wine sauce. Fresh, house made, pasta cook to al denta, the warmth on the tongue from the allspice, red wine, carrots, onion and garlic and venison cooked so tender that it all melts in your mouth. I love venison no matter how it is prepared and this dish is magnificent. My friend had the Agnello Al Rhubarb-slow roasted lamb shank with fresh rhubarb and shallot risotto. The lamb was moist and tender. It had the earthy flavors of lamb but what was amazing was the Porto and fresh rhubarb sauce that was drizzled on top. It is so difficult in words to express the flavors as they mingled and danced across my tongue. In fact, shhh don’t tell anyone, when my friend was finished I used a bit of bread to mop up the last of the sauce. The risotto had a nice deep caramelized shallot flavor, but was under-cooked and dry. This type of meal makes the waiting for a table at Piccolo entirely worthwhile. It’s not fancy, but it’s real cooking. The wine list is mostly Italian with choices from moderate to very expensive from all the important regions. 

As we depart, blasted by the cold and gusty wind, all I could think about was when I would be returning for my next meal and the soup, oh the soup.