Migration
Splurge for the best seafood and kind service in Vicenza at Massimo Gusto
Stars and Stripes
January 3, 2019
Massimo Gusto is a small, sleek, seafood restaurant in downtown Vicenza. Its seafood is judged by many to be the best in the city. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Massimo Gusto is a small, sleek, seafood restaurant in downtown Vicenza. Its seafood is judged by many to be the best in the city. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Massimo Gusto in Vicenza specializes in oysters, offering a dozen or more kinds. On a recent visit, that included oysters from Omaha Beach, Normandy. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Massimo Gusto's bar in downtown Vicenza is a spare but warm linear space. The restaurant's other small room faces the Bacchiglione waterway. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
An appetizer at Massimo Gusto in Vicenza combined shrimp with crunchy fried prawns and artichoke. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
A popular dish at Massimo Gusto in Vicenza balances fish, seafood, vegetables and white polenta. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Among desserts at Massimo Gusto in Vicenza are home-made Brazilian truffles. The chocolate with hot pepper is amazing. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
The seafood at Massimo Gusto is exquisite. You should go immediately. I could end this story here.
But then I wouldn’t get to talk about my amazing oysters.
I couldn’t mention the shrimp, prawn and artichoke appetizer that was so delicious, sweet and partly crunchy that when it was gone I felt sad.
I couldn’t discuss the warmth of the fire in the grate or the kind, efficient service, or how Massimo, the owner, explained almost every dish on the Vicenza restaurant’s Italian-language, possibly dialect-inflected and definitely unfamiliar menu. When I was indecisive, he decided to give me half-portions of two dishes. All the dishes were beautifully presented.
The sleekly modern seafood restaurant known to many as the city’s best produces superb, refined versions of regional dishes as well as a selection of a dozen or so oysters from icier European waters.
I started with a half dozen, at about 6 euros ($7) a pop. Among them was an oyster from Utah Beach, Normandy, one of the D-Day beaches in World War II. Sexy, delicious and historically poignant.
The menu features appetizers; there are many, raw and cooked, and they cost from about 16 to 35 euros. There are a handful of pasta dishes for the first course at about 18 euros each. Second courses include mixed fried fish and seafood for 27 euros. Whole roasted fish is priced at 9 euros a pound.
The wine list is excellent and reasonable. Desserts, including homemade Brazilian truffles, are delectable.
I’m going again very soon.
Address: Viale Antonio Giuriolo 17, Vicenza 36100Phone: (+39) 348 7153044Reservations: RecommendedHours: Noon to 2:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Noon to 2:30 p.m. Sundays. Closed Monday.English menu: NoPrices: Expensive, and worth it.Website:www.massimogusto.it