Restaurants

Vapiano By Leslie Witt

Issue 11 November 4 - December 2, 2004

	Leslie Witt
	Vapiano: Fresh pasta daily

Advertisements proclaim Vapiano serves a zillion different pasta dishes. In truth, Vapiano offers nine varieties of homemade pasta and 19 pasta accompaniments; you do the math. The pasta is made fresh every day, and if you are lucky you can see it happening. The entire preparation area is on view, enlivened by rows of pasta in jars.

If pasta equals happiness for you, you can take Vapiano’s homemade pasta home with you — undressed it costs 70 rubles for 200 grams. Indeed, everything on the menu can be ordered as takeout. (Just give us 10 minutes advance notice, said the perky waitress.)

Leslie Witt
Vapiano: Light interior

Our “amatriciana” ham, bacon and tomato sauce on spaghetti (240 rubles) did not impress, despite a waiter’s recommendation. The spicing was timid for the pasta’s bulk. But the sauce “alla bolognese” (220 rubles) on the waitress’s recommended linguine was a prescription for homespun happiness. The finely ground beef, tomatoes and pepper sauce, fresh parsley-besprinkled and served steaming hot, suited the linguine to a T.

As for personal pizzas, Vapiano offers a diverse selection with quirky ingredients like salmon, broccoli, eggplant, and even mussels, plus the traditional four-cheese pizza. Each pizza is plate sized, but thin; not too heavy or overwhelming for one. The crust is crispy and delicate, with a hint of sweetness. The pizza chef’s urge to slop on tomato sauce is kept firmly in check and the pizza is brought piping hot. The “salsiccia” pizza with sausage, basil, hot peppers, and onions, (310 rubles) was charmingly cheesy with freshly cut vegetables.

	Leslie Witt
	dessert time: Vapiano

In the decorative scheme, Vapiano’s designer clearly believed that opposite means stylish. The bright dining area bristles with excessively tall distressed birch tables, surprisingly comfortable backed stools, and built-in benches, all with mustard yellow cushions. Meanwhile the pocket-size bar is a black cave lit by blood red lamps, with seats as close to the ground as you can get without spreading a blanket and breaking out the picnic.

The bathroom is great: its tidy unisex antechamber of chrome, black, and aggressively textured cream paper is decorated with silver-toned photos of bead and burlesque underwear-clad crotches and bosoms. You have to ask why.

What Vapiano has going for it is the comfort factor. Vapiano is an intimate, fun, stylish, clean, affordable and fairly low-key place with good food and great service. The clientele is a mix of well-scrubbed city-dwellers: father-daughter pairs, jeans-clad young co-workers and congenial couples, all enjoying the good food and calm ambiance. Sometimes middle of the road is not a bad thing.