Many were the times I stopped to peer through the window into the most elegant restaurant in downtown Vicenza. And many were the times that I kept on going.
The prices on the menu posted outside were high, but more important to my wandering elsewhere was that there were few, or no, customers.
Obviously something was amiss, right?
Sometimes being completely wrong is a revelation. Such was the case, I discovered on Valentine’s Day, with tira tardi.
Determined to have a romantic meal with a visiting fiancé, I’d made a reservation one afternoon a few days before the Hallmark holiday. As usual, the restaurant was empty.
But I’d been seduced by the space in a side street across from Palladio’s Basilica: exposed brick walls, sleek lighting, and especially the chairs — perhaps the only ones in all of downtown with cushioned rather than straw seats , and spaced for privacy instead of jammed at tiny tables cheek by jowl.
We arrived as skeptics at 8 p.m. joining two other parties already in the process of their Valentine’s celebrations and took our comfy seats. Desi, my miniature poodle and actually a huge romantic himself — so loyal! — lay on his special scarf at our feet.
But I sense I’m being self-indulgent…
What you want to know is — how was the food?
It was fantastic. It was luxurious ingredients, lobster and fois gras and monkfish and the best branzino prepared simply, cooked expertly with refinement, notably different from the usual Vicenza rustic vibe.
And the service? With so few customers, it was like being at home, with your own chef and server: so attentive, so knowledgeable, and yet so non-obtrusive. We couldn’t have been happier.
As the night progressed, more and more couples arrived. It reminded me of a trip to Milan many years before in which the restaurants didn’t open until after 9 p.m. and only got lively near midnight. So, it turned out, the restaurant caters to a late-night crowd.
We left as devotees. We went back twice in a week – once at 7 p.m. when we were the only patrons. We had the spaghetti with raw sea urchins, the risotto with scampi, and the sea bass encrusted in salt.
We look forward to trying some of the meat dishes in the future.
The restaurant is also open for lunch, with more reasonable prices. I plan to sample the Penne Alla Angry. It’s only 7 euros.
tira tardi
Address: Contra Daniele Manin 11, Vicenza, Italy
Menu: in Italian and English.
Hours: Lunch is 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m; dinner is 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Prices: Appetizers are in the double digits; ours cost 29 and 23 euros. We shared a first pasta course for 22 euros, and our second fish courses cost 26 and 33 euros. Lunch dishes are mostly in the single digits and no more than 14 euros.
Dress: Chic.
Information:Telephone: (+39) 0444-325204; website: www.ristorantetiratardi.it (in Italian).