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Friday, October 27, 2000
By Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette Dining Critic
Call Franco's Trattoria, ask for Joe, and you might get Joseph D'Amico, the owner, or Joseph Tambellini, the chef.
But ask for Franco and there is only one: Francesco D'Amico, or Franco, who has been chef and sometimes owner of a number of successful restaurants around town.
Several months ago Franco sold the highly regarded Franco's Ristorante in Fox Chapel. Now you'll mostly find him, in white shirt and chef's pants, walking around the trattoria, greeting old friends, asking if you'd like some pasta with that veal and watching what people are eating.
"People love him. He's here a lot, especially at lunch," son Joe says. Franco also makes the trip to the Strip or to local supermarkets to do the purchasing. The trattoria is his baby, as Joe said before they opened
Some dishes are much the same as at Franco's in Fox Chapel. The big veal chop, cannoli, tiramisu and the signature dish, Franco's fried zucchini for two, for starters.
"But our menu is more extensive and less pricey," Joe D'Amico says. Perhaps. Fried zucchini is $6.95 at Fox Chapel, $4.95 here. But our serving didn't seem as big at the trattoria. A big veal chop is $30.95 in Fox Chapel, but a slight price increase is coming; here it's $32.95. Tiramisu is $4.95 at both.
For the quality and quantity, Joe D'Amico maintains, Franco's Trattoria is a good value. Most everyone goes home with a take-out box.
Incidentally, Franco, who is known for making possibly the best tiramisu in the city, isn't making it here. That's chef Joe Tambellini's job. Franco thinks Joe Tambellini makes a tiramisu that's much better than his own. "I take my crown off to him," he says.
Chef Tambellini is a nephew of Franco's. He prepared for this job by working under chef Peter Lauterbach at Bravo Franco in the Cultural District.
It was a Sunday night, when so few Pittsburgh restaurants are open, the first night we stopped at Franco's Trattoria. The place was crowded but we got a booth after a short wait. This used to be Otto's Hofbrau Haus, but all remnants of German decoration are gone. The wall has been opened up between the bar and the dining room, making the restaurant seem more spacious. Mirrors in the dining room help to create the illusion of space, too.
The restaurant can get noisy on busy nights. Some people who prefer a quieter dinner have asked to eat in the banquet room downstairs, and the restaurant obliges. The room is routinely used for overflow on busy Friday and Saturday nights, too.
Joe D'Amico has been working with Joe Barsotti of Winebow on the still-developing wine list, adding more wines from Italy. But there are some good California bottles on the list, too, including H.H.'s favorite Chalone chardonnay, the B.R. Cone chardonnay, and Pedroncelli zinfandel. Wines by the bottle are priced from the mid-$20s up, or $10 to $20 above cost.
Fried zucchini is crisp and puffy, and comes with lemon, cheese and tomato sauce. But the portion seems smaller than I remember at Fox Chapel. An even better appetizer, to my mind (sorry, Franco!), is the stuffed portabella mushroom Florentine style. The big fungus is served flat on the plate, covered with a soft, moist crab meat and spinach.
That same crab meat and spinach combination showed up on a beautifully prepared stuffed rainbow trout Florentine. The boned trout was split open, one side was covered with crab meat stuffing, the other with spinach, and it was served with a champagne cream. On a taste score of one to 10, I'd call that a 10. Order stuffed shrimp and you get more of that good, moist crab meat stuffing, this time inside four big, broiled shrimp.
Perhaps you won't even want an appetizer. The restaurant serves a complimentary mix of chopped tomato, onion, pepper and olive oil mix that is great with the Breadworks Tuscan bread.
On to the entrees: Veal Lucca has very tender medallions of veal layered with Parma proscuitto and asiago cheese. H.H. thought the proscuitto had an unusual flavor, and pulled it all off. Don't feel sorry for him; he had plenty to eat without the proscuitto. Besides, what do Swedes know about proscuitto?
From the pasta list, capellini and pine nuts with olive oil and garlic is a fine dish for vegetarians as well as people who appreciate a simple pasta dish with good, toasted pine nuts. I'm one of those people.
Pastas come with a tossed salad of lettuce, tomato wedges, cucumber and sprouts. Both the light balsamic vinaigrette and the honey mustard dressing are good choices. Entrees are served with salad and a choice of vegetable or starch.
If polenta is a choice, take it. Chef Joe's square of soft, creamy polenta, grilled on top, served with tomato sauce, is delicious. If fresh green beans are a choice, skip it. Green beans are H.H.'s favorite veggie. Twice he ordered them, twice they were overcooked.
For dessert, it's a tough choice. As Franco said, the tiramisu is wonderful -- soft on top, creamy and moist with liqueur. But Franco's handmade cannoli is a treat, too. The shell is crisp, the filling is made with ricotta, and it comes decorated with whipped cream, chocolate and raspberries.
The menu has much more, of course. More cold and hot appetizers, soups and salads, along with a long list of fish specialties, chicken, veal, beef and one lone pork item -- Franco's grilled pork chop.
Franco's Trattoria
3271 W. Liberty Ave., Dormont
412-531-6900
Hours: Italian cuisine; seats 78, with 44 more in downstairs banquet room; wheelchair accessible to main floor, but bathrooms are down a flight of stairs near banquet room; parking lot across street, plus street meters; Mastercard, Visa, American Express; no reservations except for groups of eight or more.The basics: 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Monday through Thursday ; 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Friday and Saturday; 4-8:30 p.m., SundayThe last word: 3 stars