VENTO

Vento, 675 Hudson St., Manhattan (at 14th St.), (212)699-2400

In a mini-Flatiron, on the cobblestone streets of the Meatpacking District where I'd love to have an expense account is the exposed-brick, neon and black-light lit, wooden-beam ceiling restaurant, Vento Trattoria. Vento is tapas, Italian-style. The tall windows allowed us to watch all the 'pretty people,' walk by outside and the indirect neon lights flattered them similarly inside and at the bar all while the brick and ceiling beams made us feel cozy enough.
To settle in even further, we started out with a few cocktails, the Paradiso ($10) and the Limonata ($10), a glass Maddelene Nero, and an iced tea ($3). They were sweet and tangy but nothing so special as those I've read about or that I've had at WD-50's bar. While looking over the 10 different categories on the menu: Formaggi, Salumi, Spuntini Freddi, Spuntini Caldi, Insalata, Crudo, Pesce, Pasta, Pizza and Carne. Where to begin? The cocktails were good but beyond being very sweet they weren't memorable. We needed some salt and ordered up some salumi and cheese, prosciutto ($6), soppressata ($6), salame picante ($6), asiago ($4), pecorino ($4), gorgonzola ($4), all good.

Next the 'peperonicini,' tuna-stuffed peppers ($7); 'crispy fried calamari' ($7); and the 'polpette,' sicilian meatballs ($6). Of these the sicillian meatballs were the best but small, and too few. Similarly, the calamari was good but there wasn't very much of it. Then a mozzarella, tomato and pesto, caprese salad ($6). The mozzarella was soft and creamy, excellent. A carpaccio, raw, sliced beef with parmigiano and celery ($8), thin and tangy. We also ordered the 'casarecci,' a pasta dish with peas, prosciutto and truffle butter ($12), the 'milanese,' a crispy chicken dish with peperonata ($14) and the 'vitello,' a grilled skirt steak with salsa verde ($14). The skirt steak was by far the best dish we'd been served all evening even though a Texan at my table made it a point to ask it was so difficult for the East Coast to produce good salsa verde. Overall, the dishes were good but even though we'd ordered meat and cheese plates, followed by 8 other dishes, the four of us were still hungry. An order of parmesan fries ($4) helped remedy that-- thin, crisp fries covered with sharp shredded parmesan (that said, if I were serving the fries, I might toss them in the parmesan instead of topping them.

For dessert we ordered the panini ($4), crostatelle ($4), zeppole ($4), and the tortino ($4). The zeppole and its dipping sauce were a highlight but the simplest of desserts reigned; the panini, lightly toasted bread with spread chocolate, light, crisp and sweet was the perfect.

Tapas is perfectly suited to my tastes right now-- many small plates, lots of flavors, sharp, and salty and Vento, part of the B.R. Guest Restaurant empire, is a hip, comfortable, calibrated place to eat it. But we had to eat too much bread to leave sated for Vento (wind) to be whistling through pockets svuotato (emptied) of $224.

TOTAL SPENT: $224 (including 3 alcoholic drinks)

20 WORDS OR LESS? Good, but nothing demanding replication. It could all be made at home for twice the guests and half the cost.