Interesting and very Italian
Its about a year since Zucca closed, and its left a hole in our restaurant list for a restaurant serving interesting yet traditionally- based Italian food, of good quality and without breaking the bank. Does Enoteca Turi fill that gap? Well in some ways it does, sufficiently to anticipate a repeat visit, certainly. We ate five courses between us today, and none were less than nicely cooked and presented. We ate a mix of a la carte dishes and choices from the set lunch menu. We each had a starter- in my case Baccala with polenta; in my wife's case the day's creamy lentil soup . Both pretty good, we thought. For mains we opted for main course-sized pasta dishes; my wife agnolotti with veal, me Paccheri with a sausage ragu and bitter turnip tops that complemented the dish very nicely. We had a half litre of a pleasant Monferrato from northern Italy and again this worked well. So from the point of view of food quality and flavours I'd say we were well satisfied today. Service was brisk ( maybe a fraction too brisk) and always pleasant and friendly.
A couple of things we found maybe a little surprising. First for a restaurant serving food that is in essence fairly informal, the restaurant itself looks and feels a bit stiff, with wait-staff dressed in suits and uniforms, and this is reflected in the way the restaurant looks . Its as if there's something of a dissonance between the nature of the food and the look of the premises/staff. Also. for a person eating his main meal in a restaurant perhaps 150 days of the year, I eat remarkably few desserts. Reason is that I'm diabetic and it takes a lot to tempt me. So usually my main meal in starter, main, wine and coffee, and I find in general that that's enough for me. Today, well my a la carte starter and a main course pasta wasn't quite enough. The pasta ( and my wife's) was somewhat on the small side, and I should say that they might have given rather more of the delicious, smoky, sausage ragu as well. It really wouldn't hurt to give a little more. And that's why my "value" mark is below the food mark. It is not because the food is hugely expensive, its because the main course portions were IMO too small, maybe placing delicacy before satisfaction.
Still, a good meal, and we will go back.