Discussion of Robin Garr's Volare review

[Robin Garr]

Volare continues the upscale Italian tradition
LEO's Eats with Robin Garr



Volare, oh oh … Cantare, oh oh oh oh … Let’s fly way up to the clouds … With Dean Martin’s classic rendition of the pop Italian ballad firmly planted in our ears, let’s talk about Volare and how it fits into the pantheon of Louisville’s top Italian tables.

It’s all connected, after all, and goes back to the 1970s, when, for a century or more, “Italian” food had meant the hearty, tomato-sauced American-immigrant fare that families brought through Ellis Island from Calabria and Sicily, Italy’s poverty-ridden deep south. Spaghetti and meatballs, for example, and ravioli, and maybe some veal parm-mee-jun, made, of course, with grated cheese from the green can. That was Italian eats in those days, and most of us loved it; and we washed it down with Chianti from a wicker-wrapped bottle that could be repurposed as a candlestick.

In the 1970s, though, something new came to town, delivered by the fabled Casa Grisanti, a local spot that had already built a reputation for, well, spaghetti and meatballs and pizza. One day they painted over the huge mural map of sunny Italy that had covered one wall, ditched the red-checked tablecloths, nailed shut the drive-by pizza window, and switched over to a newly trendy menu of not-so-red dishes that gained the not-quite-accurate moniker “northern” Italian to distinguish them from the traditional southern Italian stuff.

Northern Italian became trendy, and it became upscale and expensive, with top-end menu prices, heady markups on Italian wines that didn’t come in wicker baskets, and little tricks like upcharges for veggies and sides to push the tab up to levels not previously seen hereabouts. And to make us like it, they surrounded it with a tux-clad mystique that featured suave, sycophantic hosts and servers who treated you as if you had been recognized as a restaurant critic even if you weren’t.

The public embraced the idea, and Casa Grisanti soared. Although it closed in 1991, it spawned a school of offspring: Vincenzo’s came in the ’80s, Porcini in the ’90s, Volare popped up in the early 2000s, and Mozz came along in 2010. In general, they featured Grisanti graduates in the kitchen and dining room, and offered similar formulas: classy venue, upscale pricing, attentive service and, most important, well-wrought authentic regional fare from all over Italy, not just “northern” or “southern.”

At this point, I’m inclined to declare Volare tops in the local genre.

Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/volar ... -tradition

And in LEO Weekly:
http://leoweekly.com/dining/volare-cont ... -tradition

Volare Italian Ristorante
2300 Frankfort Ave.
894-4446
http://volare-restaurant.com
Rating: 91

My only quible with this review is the score..I'd definately give them a couple of more points. Although I know anywhere in the 90s puts them in pretty good company. The Vodka Ravoli is among my favorites along with the stuffed veal chop.

Robin, if you haven't, try the small plates menu one night. Walk up there, share a bottle of half price wine, enjoy the jazz, and pick at a few things. I know ordering chicken wings and wedge salad at Volare is bad for the "street cred" of a restaurant critic, but both of these items are among the best in the city. Maybe wear sunglasses or something...