WHEN IT'S TIME FOR COMFORT
This month's The Art of the Snack takes us to Astoria Queens to VIA VAI which is known for their Italian cuisine. We had to find out about a number of their signature dishes, cocktails and more. We sat down with chef and owner, Antonio Morichini to give us the inside scoop.
ATHLEISURE MAG: Tell us about your culinary background and how you came up with the idea of opening Via Vai in Astoria?
ANTONIO MORICHINI: After cooking at home my entire life and realizing my passion was in creating wonderful meals that satisfied family and friends alike, I decided to change my career and attend culinary school in Italy, in the Piedmont region in the north, the home of truffles and Barolo wine. From there I began my culinary journey back to Rome, after working at a seaside town in Liguria where fisherman would row up to the restaurant with their freshest catch of the day, then on to Venice and Brescia where I attended several advanced training courses at the prestigious professional-level culinary institute, delving deeper into a variety of Italian culinary techniques. Upon returning to Rome, I started working with Chef Angelo Troiani at the Michelin-starred Il Convivio Troiani, near the Piazza Navona, Chef Cristina Bowerman, where I helped her open and run the Michelin-starred Glass Hostaria for several years, and with Chef Giulio Terrinoni at the Michelin starred, all fish restaurant, Acquolina. When my wife and I decided to move to the New York, I began working as Executive Chef for several restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Westchester, but the desire to open my own place, to express my culinary soul in its fullest, led me to open VIA VAI in Astoria in 2014.
AM: What can guests expect when they come to dine at VIA VAI?
AM: Our goal is to make our guests feel as though they were transported to Italy and are savoring the ambiance and flavors of my homeland. Guests can expect to be welcomed and enjoy their meals in a casual manner, with a balanced variety of dishes that remain one step ahead of tradition and a step behind innovation. We only serve Italian wines as they come from the same earth as many of our ingredients and marry with the dishes that are inspired by the tradition of the place where the vines grow.
AM: When creating this menu, can you tell us about where the inspiration for your dishes came from?
AM: I am inspired by my instincts and senses when handling ingredients. I envision in my mind and on my palate the flavors that I would like to taste in my mouth and express on the plate at the end of the cooking process. It is a sort of coming home for the ingredient -- I never bury the main ingredient but rather work around it, to exalt its features and its flavors. This is very central to true Italian cuisine and to my philosophy.
AM: What are 3 signature dishes that you suggest?
AM: That's a hard question, yet simple as well. Each of our pastas are stand outs, from the more light bodied -- such as our shrimp ravioli with orange zest and thyme, our tagliolini al branzino with olives, capers, cherry tomatoes and basil, or our black ink tagliolini with shrimp, fresh mint, asparagus and pecorino cheese – to our more full bodied options, such as bucatini all’amatriciana or spaghetti carbonara. I would highlight the Roman pastas in particular as those are the ones that I grew up eating and that formed me as a chef, but of course I have refined them with the development of my skills. What I would call my other "signature" dish, is a simple freshly caught branzino, baked in our pasta dough that steams that fish and imbues it with the herbs and lemon that it is baked with; it is finished with exceptional EVOO from the Sabina region of northern Lazio. My third signature dish, that is by far our top seller, are our all-beef meatballs; they are served with our tomato sauce that enhances, rather than buries, the flavor of the meatballs.
AM: What are 3 wines that you suggest?
AM: The wines usually depend of the dishes being eaten. My favorite wines from our wine list, are: Sagrantino, from the Umbria region, a wine that is not very well known in the US but a very well-known mid-level cost wine in Italy. It reminds me of our travels in that region, one of my favorite in all of Italy. The wine is full bodied and pairs well red meats and more robust pasta.
Soave, from the Veneto region. It is crisp, and is wonderful with fish, including our branzino baked in pizza dough.
Gewürztraminer, a medium-full bodied aromatic white wine from Alto-Adige, a mountainous region in northeast Italy.
AM: Right now, we’re in a situation where the community is coming together as we navigate staying indoors and although we are unable to come into restaurant to dine, you still offer delivery and curbside pickup – can you tell us more about this?
AM: Thanks for this question. We are all suffering and have had to limit our staffing because of the situation, but are offering our staff the ability to pick up food from us to get them through this difficult period. We are doing what we can to bring the pleasure of good food to our home-bound guests. We are open every day from 1-8pm, and offer curb side pickup and delivery. Curbside pick up has no minimum. Both direct orders and curbside pick up the order will receive a free dessert (pannacotta). We are available by phone at (347) 612-4334 and our limited menu can be found on their website here: https://www.viavai-ny.com
PHOTO COURTESY | Anna Frumenti
IG @VIAVAINYC
Read the March Issue of Athleisure Mag and see The Art of the Snack | Via Vai in mag.
