The unprepossessing exterior of Trattoria da Angelo on the outskirts of Vicenza, Italy, is matched by its cuisine — unfussy but ample portions of pasta, seafood, pizza and other traditional dishes — and modest prices. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
The unprepossessing exterior of Trattoria da Angelo on the outskirts of Vicenza, Italy, is matched by its cuisine — unfussy but ample portions of pasta, seafood, pizza and other traditional dishes — and modest prices. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Da Angelo's sizeable, 12-euro seafood salad, with fresh shrimp, clams, mussels, squid, fish and more, compares favorably with more expensive seafood salads elsewhere in Vicenza, Italy. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Moscardini Affogati — little octopi in tomato sauce — at da Angelo, on the outskirts of Vicenza, Italy, looks alarming but tastes good. Just don't think about the theory that octopi are actually quite intelligent. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Seafood spaghetti at da Angelo, on the outskirts of Vicenza, Italy, costs 15 euros and provides more than one serving. Seafood is a speciality of the restaurant but it also offers 90 varieties of pizza. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
Da Angelo's tasty, tender veal scallopine with lemon swims in a buttery sauce and costs less than 6 euros. The restaurant is located on the outskirts of Vicenca, Italy. (Nancy Montgomery/Stars and Stripes)
It’s not romantic. No one dresses up, and there’s nothing sleek or glamorous going on. On a recent visit, “The Simpsons” played on a small television by the kitchen.
Trattoria da Angelo is a neighborhood place on Vicenza, Italy's outskirts that has for decades attracted a faithful working-class and family clientele for lunch and dinner every day but Tuesdays. What it has is reliable, unfussy, Italian trattoria food, as well as fish and seafood specialties, for amazingly low prices.
The pizza topped with french fries served to a nearby table was less than 4 euros, and it might have served four.
How many pizzas are there? Ninety, ranging in price from 3.50 euros to 11 euros.
The menu delivers an abundance of choices, in pasta shape, sauce type and pretty much every category of Italian food except nouvelle. However heavy on the sauce and oil, this is guilt-free dining for the budget minded.
Most meat or vegetarian pasta dishes — there are scores of them — cost between 5 euros and 7 euros, with seafood pasta, including spaghetti with lobster, topping out at 15 euros.
We went for lunch recently, were seated in a small, sunny room on the second floor, and dug in.
I started with the seafood salad, 12 euros. It had clams, mussels, octopus, squid, sardines, shrimp and a sweet piece of salmon lightly dressed in oil and vinegar. It was far more than I could eat, even with a companion dipping into it. I had the remainder for lunch the next day.
Likewise with the 12-euro moscardini affogati — little octopi in tomato sauce — with which a companion started: so many moscardini, yet so little money.
Our bottle of white table wine from Ravello, in the Amalfi region from which Angelo, the venerable restaurant’s owner also hails, was 10 euros. It was light, fresh, dry and cold.
Next came the two pastas we ordered. One was a giant platter of seafood spaghetti, with all the sea creatures from my seafood salad and more in tomato sauce. More leftovers.
The bigoli matriciana, or fat spaghetti with tomato sauce enlivened by little pieces of onion and ham, was comforting, 6 euros, and also too big to finish.
I ordered veal scaloppine with lemon for a second course, and it came swimming in a buttery sauce with sauteed lemon slices on top. Was it a $50 veal chop that melts in your mouth? No, but it was tender and tasty, and cost a whopping 5.50 euros. Two sides — serviceable spinach and a bowl of raw, grated carrots — cost 3.50 euros each.
A couple of pleasurable hours after we began, we took our five or six doggy bags and were prepared to roll ourselves to the car. But then our waiter suggested limoncello. It was frosty, delicious — and on the house.
