Near The Garden And The Sea [Restaurant review]
We recognized our server at Avenue Italy from other high-end restaurants – it was a good sign. It’s fitting that that so many local Italian restaurants have big windows and sunny patios – after all, that peninsula is famous for sun, for old master landscapes drenched in light. Even at its most formal this is a cuisine with flavors that are not far from the garden and the sea, so it makes sense to dine in one with a view of the other. (To make it clear, that’s dining in the garden, not the ocean, because even with scuba gear it’s not comfortable the other way.) Avenue Italy has done a particularly good job of creating an Italian setting without set dressing of the kind that mimics a Florentine villa or similar fantasy environment. The big, airy room with ocean and patio views has tapestry chairs and a copy of a Roman fresco, plus windows into the kitchen, a reminder of the reason we’ve entered this space in the first place. A bar with a wall of wine bottles completes the sense of a space that is modern, but anchored in tradition. On our first visit for brunch we let ourselves be guided by our server, who we had recognized from high-end restaurants of decades gone by. Seeing him…
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