Veneto owner Roberto Rossi and chef Massimo Brunelli have been guests
on Phoenix's 3TV's "Your Life A to Z" and "Good Day Arizona."
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…Veneto Trattoria's menu offers dishes you can find anyplace there's red-checked oilcloth, Chianti in wicker baskets and canned accordion music: veal scaloppine; grilled sea bass; spaghetti with seafood; chicken in a red wine sauce. But the chef's heart is clearly in the regional Venetian specialties, which
are starred on the menu. You won't find dishes like these elsewhere, and they're what make this place stand out from the Italian-restaurant crowd.

Baccala mantecato is the first piece of evidence. It's dried, salt-cured cod, marinated in milk and puréed into a mousse, served over wedges of polenta and teamed with greens and red onion. There's nothing timid about this mix of flavors. Calamari is also first-rate, floating in a spoon-lickin' tomato
sauce.

…The main dishes sparkle. Risotto with pumpkin and wild mushrooms packs a powerful punch, especially once your server grates Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese over it. Roasted duck breast is especially ravishing, the meat fanned across the plate and spruced up with bits of duck liver and smoked pork,
creating a harmony of rich, salty, smoky flavors. Excellent mashed potatoes and properly cooked mixed veggies -- not so al dente that you need a pick ax to cut them -- furnish good support.

…The kitchen is just as skilled with dessert as it is with everything else. Just thinking about the semifreddo makes me want to go back for more. It's semifrozen meringue studded with dried fruit and pine nuts, drizzled with chocolate sauce and surrounded by a puddle of raspberry coulis. Yum. The
marzipan apple tart, gilded with vanilla ice cream and apricot sauce, is also a winner. The chocolate hazelnut cake, a somewhat more pedestrian effort, suffers in comparison.

Let's hope success doesn't tempt the proprietors to change the restaurant's formula. Please: Keep prices sane; don't throw white linen on the tables; don't try to please everybody by adding wood-fired pizza or veal Parmesan to the menu; don't move to larger quarters; and don't lose the neighborhood feel. Right now, Veneto Trattoria is the kind of Italian restaurant we didn't know the Valley was missing, until it showed us what we were missing. It looks poised for a long, prosperous run.

The scene: Golden tones and wooden accents, along with Venetian masks, artwork and other Italian ornaments provided by the proprietors give a personable and welcoming feel. Table and banquette seating options are offered at wooden tables, simply set with utensils, stemmed glassware, linen napkins and candles. An overhead, built-in wine rack, amply supplied with many varieties, is an attractive display. When the weather (and temperature) permits park yourself on the patio, shaded by teal umbrellas.

The menu: Look for a few Italian favorites - lasagna, spaghetti with clams and veal scaloppini - among a mix of intriguing dishes such as Venetian-style cod with grilled polenta and a house-smoked pork chop with apple cider. Starred menu items indicate the dishes typically found in Venetian region.

The damage: Lunch time eats are $4.25 to $13.50. Dinner appetizers $4.95 to $8.50, entrees are $11.75 to $21.75.

The recommendation: Veneto is not your everyday Italian eatery. The notion is confirmed further by the well-prepared food. Zuppa del giorno (soup of the day) was minestrone and deliciously affirmed the kitchen's commitment to flavor. The broth was rich, soothing and loaded with veggies that were not rendered to mush from too many hours of cooking.

The pre-meal plate of perfectly cooked calamari, is spooned with a wonderfully garlic-charged, thickish tomato broth, jeweled with tender, bright green peas and chopped tomatoes. Calamari (fancy for squid) is notably tricky to cook. Too long in the pot and the rings resemble rubber bands.

Another Italian dish that can be disastrous is gnocchi, dumplings made from potatoes and flour. Veneto dishes flawlessly fashioned gnocchi, typically wrapped in a Gorgonzola cheese coating. The chef's Bolognese pairing, however, is more to my liking. The rich, meat sauce is patiently prepared and features shredded, flavorful beef instead of the ground variety. It's yet another demonstration of the kitchen's level of skill. And if not into gnocchi for some reason, get the superb sauce tossed with fettuccine.

The luganega con verzette e polenta (sausage with polenta) is one of many Venetian dishes on the menu. It's superb — if you're a sausage sort of person. The two plump sausages are marvelous, crafted from a ground pork mixture that has been cleverly jazzed with herbs and a modicum of garlic. Accompanying squares of polenta add another texture and admirable flavor note. The dish also comes with braised cabbage. But it's not the soggy stuff that's usually heaped on top of corned beef. The cabbage has flavor, cooked with still more garlic, and crunch.

Though several sweets are offered at meal's end, I'm partial to the dreamy semifreddo con frutta secca, an ethereal frozen (actual translation is half-frozen) concoction of sweetened meringue and whipped cream. A thick, rich and creamy slice is set in spoonfuls of raspberry sauce, drizzled with chocolate sauce and adorned with sugared walnuts, raisins, golden raisins and diced dried apricot.

…The potato and lobster soup is part of Veneto's heartier winter menu and is expected to return as a special when the weather cools. Until that happens, my plan is to resample the calamari in umido, sauteed calamari in a wonderful garlic-tomato broth, with peas and croutons. This was not a tomato sauce like the ubiquitous marinaras that typify American/southern Italian cuisine. This was, as the name suggests, more brothlike, thickened slightly with tomato and cream or milk.

...With the trattoria label, essentially the Italian equivalent of bistro, he is striving for a slightly relaxed feel in the food and atmosphere.

"It's local food, regional food, the kind of food people (in Venice) might make at home if they had time," [owner Roberto Rossi] said. An excellent example of that is luganega con verzette e polenta, pork garlic sausages with grilled polenta and braised savoy cabbage. The meal's simplicity makes it believable as fare for a gondolier after a day on the canals. Yet it is a meal that can hold its own amid the grilled lamb and beef fillets of the Scottsdale menu. The mild garlic sausages were distinctive and a perfect complement to the grilled polenta.

...Veneto's variation on this classic Italian dessert [tiramisu] is cakelike, with no discernible lady fingers, but with plenty of the sweet, lascivious mascarpone cheese. It is joined on the menu by a couple of other offerings equally capable of ushering one up to that fine line between total satiation and diabetic coma. Veneto cioccolato valentino is a chocolate hazelnut cake served on a bed of raspberry sauce. It is not for the faint of heart or for the chocophobic.

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD ITALIAN RESTAURANT

VENETO TRATTORIA
HILTON VILLAGE
6137 NORTH SCOTTSDALE ROAD,
SCOTTSDALE, 948-3328

Three things you would 't expect to find in the Valley of the Sun: 1) state legislators at a Mensa meeting; 2)a bobsled run on Squaw Peak; 3) an unpretentious neighborhood Italian place with great food and reasonable prices in Scottsdale.

So much for expectations. Veneto Trattoria proves that you can go to an Italian restaurant in this tony part of the Valley without talking out a second mortgage and greeting people you barely know with air-kisses on the check.

Casual and bustling, this place specializes in Venetian fare, and the Venetian fare is special for two reasons. First, cost. Entrees hover around $15, and several are less. Share an appetizer and dessert and two people will get out for under $50, including tax and tip. Second, quality. This kitchen delivers some of the tastiest and most interesting northern Italian dishes around.

Check out a starter like baccala mantecato, salt-cured cod marinated in milk and pureed into a mousse. Move onto entrees like pumpkin and wild-mushroom risotto; fegato alla Veneziana, thin-sliced liver done up with olive oil; duck breast spruced up with foie gras; and luganega, garlicky pork sausages paired with grilled polenta and braised cabbage.

Veneto Trattoria is the kind of restaurant we didn't know we were missing until it showed us what we were missing. Mr. Rogers was right - it is a wonderful day in the neighborhood.

Nestled amongst the shops in Hilton Village is a little restaurant that has gone through several reincarnations over the past few years. This time, under the ownership of Roberto and Susan Rossi, we feel sure, as does everyone who already has dined here, that someone finally got it right. Roberto and Susan have taken painstaking measures to assure Valley diners that at Veneto Trattoria Italiana they will experience authentic Northern Italian cuisine unlike any other found in this Valley.

First and foremost, they started with finding the perfect chef...and where else to look but in Italy where they found Gianfranco Minuz and brought him over to work his particular magic. They also brought with them the very authentic Italian decor that now graces the restaurant. Roberto himself brings an extensive restaurant management background to Veneto while wife Susan complements this with her people skills, taking the time to get to know by name all their clientele and adding that very personal touch we all seek in our dining experience. While too often we hear the word authentic when it comes to Italian cuisine, at Veneto they really mean it.

You will find items on this menu that simply cannot be found anywhere else in the Valley: Antipasti such as Baccala Mantscato, Venetian style cod served with grilled polenta; and Calamari in Umido, sauteed calamari in a garlic- tomato broth, with fresh peas and croutons; unique pasta and risotto dishes, such as Gnocchi al Sugo di Carne, homemade potato dumplings served with braised meat sauce; and Risotto con Zucca e Funghi, Italian style rice with pumpkin and wild mushrooms; meat entrees such as Petto d'Anitra con Peverada Veneta, roasted duck breast served with Venetian style country sauce; and Chilean Seabass en Crosta, sauteed herb encrusted Chilean seabass served with lime confit topped vegetables.

Their unique cuisine extends even to the dessert menu, highlighted by Semifreddo con frutta Secca, a semi-frozen meringue infused with dry fruits and nuts on a pool of raspberry sauce. And one more item we simply must mention appears on Veneto's luncheon antipasti list: Bruschetta at Salmone, toasted Italian country bread with vine ripe tomatoes, house cured (on premise) salmon, brushed with basil pesto. And speaking of lunch, watch for the completion of Veneto's patio renovation...they're adding a fountain, market umbrellas, all new tables and chairs, potted flowers. Lovely.