As we write this, you don't have to check a calendar to realize that autumn has arrived, bringing chilly, often damp weather. Recently, however, we found a warm summer-like evening when we visited Trattoria Branica in Kirkwood and enjoyed a meal outdoors. We like the cool modern interior a lot, but this was a night to enjoy the last warmth of the season. Lots of other folks felt the same way, everything from a group of business people to several families with very well-behaved kiddies ranging from lap babies to middle schoolers (who, we're positive, would be aghast at being referred to as kiddies).
We kicked things off with calamari and carpaccio, restaurant standards, certainly, but a good chance to check cooking technique (the calamari) and quality (the carpaccio). The calamari were so lightly battered and greaseless that they seemed to float off the plate and into the mouth. A garlicky sauce was flavorful but unnecessary, rather like gilding a lily. The thin slices of raw beef that made up the carpaccio were showered with capers and shards of parmesan, but in addition, there was some finely chopped red onion, a nice additional texture and taste. The high-quality beef would have been delicious on its own, but the combination really hit the right spot.
Our habit of ordering pasta at St. Louis' locally-owned Italian restaurants is due to our belief that they're not only great values but usually reliable-to-downright-exciting eating. This time, it was an order of ditale pasta with a Bolognese sauce. Ditale, a shape not often seen on menus hereabouts, are tubular pasta (think rigatoni) that is cut in short pieces, less than an inch long. Branica's Bolognese is chunky with tomato, onion and bits of beef and Italian sausage, very well balanced, the notes of fennel and the two meats pleasantly present and tasty but not overpowering.
And while veal is omnipresent in local Italian restaurants, we succumbed to the Sicilian pork chops, two lightly breaded medium-thick chops sauteed with garlic in olive oil. Moist and full of flavor, the chops were ordered “chef's choice” when the server asked our preference in done-ness. They arrived very faintly pink in the middle and absolutely delicious. The usual "seasonal vegetable medley" rode shotgun on the plate, alongside some tasty roasted potatoes.
No two restaurants seem to make bread pudding alike. Branica's was light and eggy, almost fluffy, with a few raisins scattered around, chewy on the edges.
The wine list is heavily Italian, as is to be expected, and the offerings are in moderate price ranges, with some fine values among the reds.
Pepe Profeta, who's worked at several spots around town since he shuttered Gian-Pepe's on The Hill, runs this location, and seems to know everyone, if not when they arrive, then by the time they leave. And he knows enough about restaurants to keep service moving well.
Trattoria Branica
451 S. Kirkwood Rd., Kirkwood
314-909-7575
Lunch Mon.-Fri., Dinner nightly
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
Entrees: $11-$25
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