Va de Vi, Walnut Creek Night Two

After a good experience on night one, it only made sense to come back a second night. For night two, I decided to sit at the bar (sorry, no pictures this time). The bar had a mixed crowd of diners and drinkers, with most waiting for a seat in the main dining room. The restaurant has quite a following, so first come first serve seating at the bar may be your only option. Two bartenders worked feverishly to keep up with waves of demand. In between, my bartender / server did a wonderful job of always keeping an eye out for my needs. I never felt rushed or crowded at the bar.

I started with the rock shrimp and avocado lumpia served with wasabi-orange cream and ponzu sauce. Light and Lumpia aren't usually associated with one another but I made an exception for the fried lumpia on the bartender’s recommendation. They were lighter than expected and had a nice crispy crust. Probably a big seller at the bar, the saltiness and fried parts would probably go well with beer or wine. The avocado tasted fresh and the shrimp was not rubbery. Lots of sauce on the plate, similar to the heavy sauce applications I mentioned from the night before, seem to overwhelm what were well fried lumpia. Sauce just makes anything fried mushy. If they could restrain the sauce application, the lumpia are fine.

Moving on to one of their more popular items, the ahi tartare with meyer lemon zest, sesame oil and soy, topped with wasabi tobiko served with sesame rice crackers. I like eating tuna tartare and I eat it out a lot. This ranks high in flavor, but misses with the large rounds of green onion in the body of the tartare. After three bites, all I could taste was fish texture, green onion, and sesame oil. Yes, some green onion is good, more is not better.

I noticed from the night before, two pastas on the menu. After having mixed feelings about the potsticker sized mezzaluna from the previous night's experience, I thought it only fair to give the gnocchi a shot. Call it redemption or because I love pasta so much. The house made gnocchi with fava beans and greens, mushrooms, shallots in a white wine, vegetable stock and parmesan cheese sauce were a treat. The gnocchi were pillowy soft and with a good texture. High marks for the texture and flavor of the gnocchi. However, their gnocchi was completely smooth with no texture, no ridges. More typical of what is prepared in American restaurants. The sauce was rich, creamy, and well seasoned. The use of mushrooms and favas brought out layers of flavor and texture to the dish. The sauce itself was ‘spoon worthy’ in terms of flavor. Bravo on the overall dish.

So after two nights at Va de Vi, do I have a verdict? Borrowing a measure used in finance, relative peer group evaluation within a category, Va di Ve would score in the top decile of restaurants in Walnut Creek without question. But if I used a broader benchmark or peer group, say San Francisco or New York restaurants, I would have to score it in the top third. It’s the level of saucing, adding too many elements, and the idea that if "some is good...more must be better" that appear over and over again. Let the food speak for itself and Va di Ve will go from the Top Third to the Top Decile in any relative valuation scoring system.