It’s always more difficult to write about something that you feel you have a personal connection to. Take Ristorante Al Dente, for example. Its owner is Moroccan but moved to Venice, Italy as a teenager and lived in the city for years afterwards. My mother’s side of the family is Venetian and I’ve spent quite a bit of time there myself. Charlottesville being a pretty small town, it has always been nice to have Al Dente and its owner, Karim, around in the case of any bouts of nostalgia.
Last Saturday night, it was unseasonably warm and I found myself craving the ambience of Ristorante Al Dente. With an outdoor seating area that has been landscaped to perfection—taller trees separate the patio from the old IX building, shrubs border the space between the patio and the walkway to the restaurant’s entrance, flowers from the local farmer’s market are scattered about—I could think of nowhere better to be. When a friend of mine and I arrived and found that we were going to have the whole area to ourselves, a relaxing and delicious dinner was sure to follow.
Besides the connection and the space itself, from my perspective, one of the best things about Ristorante Al Dente is its ability to balance its values. Karim’s appreciation of Italy and its food has led him to be as pure as possible when creating the restaurant’s menu. (As both owner and chef, he is in complete control in this respect.) Though the take on the plates is decidedly “modern” with the extreme attention to detail that goes into their presentation (most old-school Italian dishes are just about the cooking and not the placement on the plate), the food itself stays away from nouveau fusions. That other element that Karim so expertly pairs with his wish to represent Italy is his desire to be a part of Charlottesville and thus, to procure locally. To illustrate, that night, I ordered the special. Its title was simple—something like “Crespelle con funghi” (with mushrooms)—but the presentation was beautiful and the flavors intense. In addition to those potted flowers that I mentioned he gets from the farmer’s market, he also procures the nasturtiums that he decorates his dishes with from the market’s Planet Earth Diversified. While the mix of mushrooms that were in my dish (porcini, shitaake, wild others) he said he could not find locally, the arugula that covered my friend’s plate most definitely was. And, if you visit during the high season, 90% of what you order at the restaurant will have been purchased from the area’s growers. Though they most likely won’t be labeled as such (I can’t think of a restaurant in Italy that ever put “biologico” in front of a dish on a menu listing), a great deal of those ingredients will be organic as well. So, for anyone out there who values having a taste of Europe every once in awhile but who also tends to live life on the local side, let this serve as a genuine recommendation to try out Al Dente.
A Tempting Plate from Al Dente
-Serena
Tags: buy local, charlottesville, eat local