Tuscany
A disclaimer .We have known Tomasso Barletta since he left his small
trattoria in Camarillo to open Tuscany in Westlake 15 years ago, We became
steady customers. Our
confidence in the restaurant and Tomasso was so high that we often
convinced friends from the tony Brentwood, Beverly Hills and Encino areas
to trek to the wilderness of Ventura County for dinner. Everyone loved it.
However, after about 7 years Tuscany became
distracted. The economy was down and affected upscale restaurants. Most
people had looked upon the restaurant as a "dress up"
destination. Unfortunately, a business associate who thought a cardigan
sweater and a baseball cap were a fashion statement demanded to become the
greeter-host while Barletta ran the dining room and supervised the
kitchen. Unfortunately this host seemed to be auditioning to replace
Walter Matthau in "Grumpy Old Men 3". At the same time, a number
of waiters thought that they were the reason for the success of the
restaurant rather than the food and put on performances instead of
serving. Zagat’s guide noted that some patrons reported an
“attitude” problem.
Barletta recognized and attacked these precarious
problems. However, it took a lot of time and energy. He rolled up the sleeves of his Armani styled clothing (he
claims they come from Nordstrom's rack) and turned things around. The
restaurant was enlarged, remodeled and now has the intimate European
feeling of 4 separate rooms, two of which are available for private
parties.
Watching him fly around the restaurant on a
Friday or Saturday night with eyes that are everywhere tells you why
Tuscany recovered and is considered one of the three finest restaurants
North of the Santa Monica mountains. Incidentally, the renowned Piero
Selvaggio of Valentino’s and Joaquin Splichal of Patina operate the
other two, located in the San Fernando Valley.
The menu is not inexpensive, but it is fair. All
of the ingredients are top-line and prepared at high levels. Meats are
prime. Much of the fish is sushi or sashimi quality. Appetizers and salads
range from about $6 for most soup to $9-10 for carpaccio or portobello
mushroom salads with crabcakes and lobster -shrimp salads slightly higher.
At our most recent visit, we opted for
Tuscany’s always available five course tasting menu. It started with an
amusee of bruschetta. Next came a seafood salad of shrimp, lobster and
calamari in a piquant sauce. My
favorite, a perfect risotto with truffle and porcini mushrooms was next.
The fish dish was sanddabs. I
am not fond of them but they were perfectly fried over polenta. The
meat dish was a combination of prime steak in a mushroom sauce and
mini-rack of lamb cooked in a Barolo wine and rosemary sauce, both cooked
a perfect medium rare. It was exquisite. Dessert was a wonderful
bittersweet molten chocolate cake. (You can find the recipe for a similar
cake in our current "Recipe". It is a rerun, but definitely worth another
look). At $45.00 per person for food
only, it is a remarkable Haut cuisine value.
