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Tasty but pricey

La vita e bella offers old-fashioned charm at up-to-date prices
Restaurant Review | Search restaurants | Archives

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
October 3rd, 2007 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Chef Gian Pietro Maschino lends an authentic touch.
From the menu

Tomato soup 380 Kč
Asparagus soup 220 Kč
Stuffed tomatoes alla Barese 250 Kč
Lasagne Bolognese 350 Kč
Veal in port sauce 430 Kč
Lamb with rosemary 580 Kč

La vita e bella

Elišky Krásnohorské 5
Prague 1–Old Town
Tel. 222 310 039
Open daily 11:30 a.m.-midnight

Food **
Service ***
Atmosphere ***
Overall ***

The Dalai Lama apparently enjoyed his evening at La vita e bella.
Of course, there’s no reason to believe diminutive Buddhist monks have an affinity for the kind of place favored by robust Italian men. Judging from a trio of celebrity photos adorning one of the restaurant’s walls, though, the 14th incarnation of Avalokiteshvara did have a good time there.
Perhaps the photos were snapped before he tried the rucola salad. Or maybe he avoided it altogether. Composed of flaccid greens and cherry tomatoes, some of which showed obvious signs of distress — corrugated skin and withering flesh — along with punchless shavings of Parmesan, the sad ensemble could not justify its heavenly 250 Kč ($12.80) price tag. Nor did a 150 Kč pile of drooping, soggy, vapid spinach dignified only by a couple bulbs of roasted garlic.
Fortunately, these inconvenient kinks disturb only sideshow dishes. Apart from an occasional lapse, La vita e bella’s core is hearty, unaffected, soul-satisfying fare.
Wafer-thin slices of veal, tender and boldly seasoned, are seared until the pan burns a rich, bitter-sweet char into the meat’s surface. Wallowing in an intense, dense and fruity port wine sauce, it’s pleasant and filling. The kitchen treats lasagna Bolognese with an uncannily delicate touch, puffing the Emilia Romagna region’s familiar, meaty ragu into something almost ethereal. Airy and light, the pasta mélange seems to melt on your tongue, leaving in its wake piquant, tingling pricks of Parmesan, this time more assertive.
It’s not the weighty, overburdened lasagna served in countless American homes. And at 350 Kč, it’s the restaurant’s best regular-menu deal.
Chops of lamb still pink and juicy in the center represent the northern reaches of Latium, the region around Rome bordering Tuscany, Umbria and Campania. The presentation is simple and savory, roasted with rosemary until the earthy meat takes on the fragrance and bite of a pine forest.
The restaurant dabbles in many of Italy’s famous culinary regions: fusilli alla Ortolana and other Tuscan flavors; veal Milanese and asparagus servings from Lombardy, although cream soup made from chunks of the latter begs for a richer base or livelier seasoning when natural flavors slack off, as occurred on one visit. From Campania, there’s farfalle alla Sorrentina and a touch of Puglia in stuffed tomatoes alla Barese, bearing a potent filling smacking of seafood wracked by bitterness and salt.
Items familiar mostly to aficionados, such as cuttlefish, share menu space with caprese and other dishes found in pale, imitative form in so many local pubs. But La vita e bella cooks such common fare with gusto.
Tomato soup, for instance, emerges as pulpy, bright and stridently herbal, loaded with enough oregano and basil to smack of pizza sauce. Yet this familiar flavor is transformed by a puddle of sweetened cream, porcelain-white in color, like a good provala di bufala and pleasantly soft, similar to mascarpone. This works to harness the raging herbal blast, allowing a gentle savory taste to dominate while bolstering the natural sweetness of the fruit.
But the soul of this restaurant rests in Sicily, home of its chef and inspiration for tuna dishes, spaghetti with sardines, brill in seawater and other native fodder.
In addition, the courses are more than fair in portion, bottles of Italian wine wait at the ready, olive oil served alongside warmed bread is cloudy and the service — especially greetings from the maitre d’— comes across as genuinely gregarious. It’s very Italian in ambience: easygoing and sophisticated at the same time, emphasizing straightforward flavors, the ritual of an old-fashioned cook’s feel for when pasta hits al dente or sea bass reaches its most lustrous point while baking inside a salt crust.
In essence, La vita e bella mimics the cozy, red-checkered tablecloth joints of American neighborhood lore. Except the tops are draped in white and the prices jacked beyond reach of the everyday diner.
But not beyond the budget of the humble Dalai Lama.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


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