Youngstown Eats: Vaccaro's Trattoria; Akron's Four and 1/2 Meatball Stunner

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Vaccaro's Trattoria; Akron's Four and 1/2 Meatball Stunner

I came home from work yesterday looking to try a new restaurant that wasn’t too far from home and didn’t require me having to mortgage my first born to pay for the meal. Several years ago my wife joined the Stan Hyet Quilt Group in Akron (if you haven’t been to Stan Hyet…GO) so lately we have been exploring this under rated city which is off the radar of those of us from Youngstown.

I went to Trip Advisor and searched Akron Italian restaurants…and picked a pig in a poke. WOWZEE WOWZEE! I hit the jackpot. My wife I enjoyed one of the nicest and most relaxing meals out we have had in a long time.

Vaccaro’s Trattoria is located in a small plaza on Ghent Road in north Fairlawn right off of I-77. One of the reasons I picked it was because of ease of access, either from the south through Akron, or from the Turnpike south on I-77 about 10 miles. Either way takes about an hour.

It takes reservations through Open Table, the national reservation service that has pretty much monopolized that upscale restaurant reservation business. Our reservation was for 6:30, and we were promptly greeted by a friendly host and hostess, and friendliness goes a long way in my book. The restaurant itself is beautifully decorated in shades of cream, brown, gold and olive green. It has a bar in the center and two dining rooms to the left and the right. Bar is medium sized and appeared to be convivial. There are several tables for two that feature these monster high back chairs which are kind of neat.

This place gets a nice crowd of patrons, nicely dressed folks out for an enjoyable dining experience in adult oriented surroundings. You can tell a well trained staff that aims to please. Our waitress was terrific, helpful, knowledgeable, and was actually “part of the act” so to speak. She made the whole evening fun. I watched other members of the wait staff who also seemed to have the same knack.

It has a trattoria menu, hence the name. You can order a specialty pizza or a complete dinner…but this is not a place for young kids. This is serious innovative food with heavy Mediterranean overtones. We started out with the single most outstanding appetizer I have ever had in my life...Mediterranean flat bread which included figs, herbed mascarpone, diced apples, shaved prosciutto topped with a secret recipe drizzle. OMG! This dish alone is worth driving back for. Our server gave us a little history about the development of this particular appetizer, and you can tell these folks are serious about recipe development.

We followed with a salad of tossed greebs served with prosciutto wrapped pineapple slices and brie cheese. The greens were dressed in a simple oil and vinegar dressing. It was a perfect complement to the somewhat sweet flat bread.

For a main course, my wife had Lasagne Primavera, layered with fresh vegetables and mascarpone and ricotta cheese…covered with a pesto cream sauce. She was ecstatic. I am not a pesto fan, so I stayed safe with Veal Parmesan. It was Veal Parm on steroids. Outstanding! My only criticism it was served with a garlic and butter pasta, and too much garlic and me don’t mix!! It should have been listed on the menu as an accompaniment, and I could have told them to nix the pasta. For dessert we had cannoli. All of the desserts are made on premises. The cannoli were filled with a chocolate cheese filling which was light and fluffy and not overwhelming big.

Two additional comments! The portions here are large, so pace yourself. In addition, the wine list here is outstanding… and affordable. From time to time the restaurant features “retail wine night” where you can buy a bottle of wine for dinner at the same price the bottle of wine would cost in a wine store sans the restaurant markup. It is apparently popular, because just about every table around us were taking advantage of the promotion.

The restaurant was packed, so I recommend reservations. The tab for the two of us was around $100.00, but I had a couple of drinks, and we ordered much more “dinner” than we normally would because we wanted to try everything. They do offer a four course tasting menu at $50.00 a head if you want a more controlled foodie experience. There is plenty of parking. This restaurant has received numerous awards from Gourmet and Bon Appetit Magazines, and I am not surprised.

My only criticism is the entry way needs some upgrading in terms of maybe a paint job, otherwise, Vaccaro’s Trattoria is primo…and a 4 meatball plus winner.