Dinner at Oventi – Feb. 5, 2014

From the outside you would think you were going to a Carrows, not a dinner house with a great wine menu and outstanding food. This place will fool you, what used to be a Marie Calendar is now Oventi, with all it fantastic Italian inspired cuisine. Oventi is located out the front side of The Winery Inn’s parking lot, so it’s a 30 second walk from the front door.

The interior is nice, kind of reminds me of the many upscale Italian restaurants in San Francisco’s North Beach. They remodeled the bathrooms, bar and created a macro brewery.

My host Carmelo, who moved with his wife from Santa Monica, used to run a couple different restaurants in Los Angeles. He was very informative and allowed me to order lots of good fare off of the menu.

Here were my favorites:

Appetizers:
Mushroom Bruschetta
Pan-fried mushroom with garlic, roasted tomato, red pepper pesto. Served on Grilled focaccia bread. This is a great rendition of this classic Italian dish=h. It had lots of rich mushroom flavor with hints of garlic and pesto, a very nice way to start my meal.

Grilled Asparagus, wrapped in prosciutto, served with hollandaise sauce. Very light with nice notes of lemon and smoky prosciutto.

Soups & Salads:
Caesar Salad, crisp romaine lettuce tossed with oven baked seasoned croutons, parmesan cheese & Oventi Caesar dressing. Crispy and cold, just the way I like my Cesar salad, I would order this again.

Italian Chopped Salad, chopped romaine, red cabbage, tomatoes, cucumber, pepperoncini, olives, salami and provolone, tossed with Italian vinaigrette. Very much like a traditional chopped salad but with it’s own twist.

Oventi Pear and Walnut Salad, mixed baby greens fresh pears, crumbled blue cheese, glazed pecans and light pear vinaigrette. This salad is very refreshing and healthy, a nice choice if you want something slightly different.

Entrée:
12oz New York Steak, grilled with sea salt & black peppercorn, finished with balsamic jus. Served with mashed potato & seasonal vegetables. A great steak with all its lovely marbling, it hit the spot.

Grilled Salmon, grilled wild salmon filled finished with lemon cream whine sauce, garnished with tomato, served over mashed potato. Cooked to perfection with a nice sauce, I liked this dish a lot.

Pastas:
Scampi Pasta, sautéed shrimp in light blend of olive oil, butter, garlic, lemon juice, tossed with angel hair pasta and tomato, topped with Parmesan cheese. The shrimp pops in your mouth, lush fragrant ingredients make this a must have dish.

Pizzas:
Oventi’s Favorite, tomato and mozzarella base, meatball, pepperoni beacon, Italian sausage and mushroom. I ate a lot of different pizzas on my trip; this one was one of my favorites. I like a crunchy crust; this one is light but with the right crunch.

Carmelo opened up a delicious bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, Stickbeak, from Napa Valley; it was so perfect with the steak.

They gave me a bottle of their own Super Tuscan Extra Virgin Olive oil, which I have used and is fantastic.

One suggestion: the outside needs just a tweaking, to make this place a little friendlier from the street. This place will get noticed soon enough, for now you can walk right in and get a really terrific meal at a great price.

Oventi
1990 Trower Ave.
Napa, CA 94558
(707) 637-4468
www.oventirestaurant.com

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