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Second helping: A no-risk revision
By CHRIS SHERMAN
© St. Petersburg Times,
published November 29, 2001
[Times photo: Fred Victorin]
On Gratzzi’s revised menu are Red Snapper Mediterraneo, right front; rigatoni Campagnola, left; Saltimbocca Cosa Nostra, center; Cocktail di Gamberl, upper left; and ciabatta bread and Chianti Ruffino Riserva wine, upper right.
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Few Italian restaurants here are gamblers. A place that takes a risk, serving authentic old glories such as polenta, cod, rabbit or white beans and escarole in a movie mall in downtown St. Petersburg, finds that the risk can quickly materialize into a bad bet.
Gratzzi's gambling days are over. A makeover of what promised six months ago to be BayWalk's most original restaurant places its money squarely on the familiar. The biggest risk is raspberry vinaigrette (too much for me).
Little has changed inside. It retains royal red walls with baronial trim, ornate oil paintings, personal wine lockers and drop-dead chandeliers (paranoids sit elsewhere).
Chickens still turn on the rotisserie, but the revamp spins the menu away from the regional and rustic to the more familiar, American restaurant Italian. The new Gratzzi is partial to standard pastas in red sauce but does them well with touches of vodka, wild mushrooms and even goat cheese.
The kitchen does use fresh mozzarella by the barnful (including fried in Parmesan crust into golf balls of cholesterol). And some dishes are made by caring hands, such as the cannelloni wrapped around a lightly cooked mixture of fresh spinach, cheese and duck.
Although the rare tastes are gone, big spenders can find steaks, chops and lobster dishes. A surprising omission is the lack of uptown pizzas, a staple of new-generation malls.
The best new parlay is adding lunch on the patio: shade, breeze and sounds of a lively marketplace below where other moviegoers enjoy chili fries and shakes under bright umbrellas.
Maybe it's not a piazza, but viewing it over a bowl of penne with fresh mozzarella helps.
Gratzzi, 199 Second Ave., St. Petersburg; (727) 822-7769. Lunches, $6.95 to $8.95; dinner, $10.95 to $24.
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