Bartolino's - Our Family History

The art of Bart's
by Joe Bonwich - St. Louis Post Dispatch - © Copyright May 1, 2008

I like to think I have a well-indexed mind when it comes to restaurant memories, but given that I was probably 12 or 13 the first time I ate at a Bartolino's restaurant, some of my recollections are imprecise. More recently, given the peculiar logistics of the weekly restaurant-review schedule I've maintained for almost 15 years, I've been back only recently for three or four meals — but not as a reviewer.

The most recent visits, about 18 months apart, provide a telling anecdote about the original Bartolino's, which from 1969 until Dec. 31 was at 2524 Hampton Avenue. In both cases, we were seated in almost the same place, and the same people sat next to us.

That memory sharpened as we sat at Bartolino's Osteria in the new Drury Inn just below the Hampton exit off Interstate 44. The restaurant is a successor to the original, but also a change in tone and style.

The occupants of the adjoining tables at the new Bart's changed from one visit to the next, but the conversations were remarkably similar. Diners on one side and staff on the other gushed out genealogies, tracing family lineages on the Hill and listing off restaurants where they had eaten — and almost as frequently had worked.

The new place holds about 160, but it's broken up into discrete spaces and doesn't feel huge. Even with a party of 12 next to us for one visit, it was neither noisy nor cramped. Doric columns and other architectural devices help the visual divisions among textured yellow-gold walls, and the enormous pride of the Saracino clan is evident in the many family photographs that are integral to the décor.

The Saracinos hired a native Sicilian, Gian Franco Munna, to run the kitchen at the Osteria, whose name draws from the traditional Italian categorizing of eating establishments into ristorantes, trattorias and osterias, with apologies for the Anglicized plurals.

Under the old hierarchy, an osteria was expected to be the most casual of the three, but I think the intended metaphor here is that the new Bart's will continue to be a gathering place for locals, even if some of them had moved away from their origins on the Hill.

Munna's lobster ravioli was clearly surprising Bartolino's customers, so much so that our waiter was compelled to tell us — twice — that it had a distinctively sweet flavor.

Lobster and vanilla is a reasonably well-known flavor affinity, but Munna hits his dish with Galliano, an Italian liqueur that Bartolino's probably sold the most as part of a Harvey Wallbanger 39 years ago. The Galliano has a hint of vanilla flavoring as well as a variety of spices and herbs, resulting in a daring flavor combination that won't appeal to all palates.

I really enjoyed it and, while I would have liked a bit more lobster in the stuffing, that would have pushed the price well above the $19 charged.

The pesto on the salmon pantesco looked a bit like horseradish but had a mild nutty flavor from the addition of almonds that worked well with the fish and the cherry tomatoes served with it.

Veal braciole balanced both flavors and textures from pignoli, pancetta and a couple of cheeses with a massive tomato punch from a pool of sauce underneath.

Our appetizers also showed an ability to put more Italian accent - or even to modernize - dishes that have become staples in the St. Louis Italian-American repertoire. An eggplant roll appetizer came stuffed with a gentle herbed ricotta filling, and the flavor of thin bits of prosciutto served with it was further concentrated by crisping the cured ham.

Even cheese garlic bread, generally just a filler dish of bland mozzarella on basic bread, was a major departure, placing a full-bodied parmigiano-onion mixture on a dense ciabatta.

I had mixed feelings about the Sicilian mussels. What were listed on the menu as "fresh Mediterranean mussels" looked a whole lot like the greenlip variety — bigger and more uniform but with a less-pure flavor than the smaller species.

The presentation was gorgeous, with eight of the big mollusks neatly arranged on the half shell amid reds from tomato and the bright green of fresh basil. Those ingredients, plus olives, garlic and capers, caused a rush of aromatics as soon as the dish was placed in front of me.

Still, although smaller mussels would have required more work on the part of the diner, I think they'd work better in the dish.

For dessert, a torta di pane alla nocciole imparted chocolate and hazelnut flavors to a large portion of nicely fluffy bread pudding, while a frutta di bosco matched fresh strawberries and blackberries with the pucker of lemon gelato and a cherry-port syrup.

The wine list is long for an osteria but fairly short for a ristorante, with about a half-dozen Italian whites and 18 Italian reds, plus about 30 other wines from the rest of the world running from about $20 to almost $100 for bottles. Close to 20 wines are offered by the glass from $5 to $9.

Our servers deftly straddled the line between formal and familiar and were generally very attentive, although one fumbled by touting the bread to each of his tables, only to forget to bring ours.

And for those in search of Bartolino's old basics such as toasted ravioli and pizza, those and other less-expensive items are featured on the Osteria's lounge menu — as is a Chicago-style pizza made with mozzarella di bufala that I've tagged for a return visit.

Maybe this time it won't take me as long to work one of St. Louis' classics back into my rotation.

(Photo above right - Crostini includes tomato concasse; roasted garlic, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil; kalamata olive tapenade; and basil pesto.)

(Photo above left - Salmon pantesco is served with almond tomato pesto, vegetables and roasted potato towers.)

jbonwich@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8133

All photos and text are property of St. Louis Post Dispatch. Top photo by Katherine Bish - For the PD.