Document text
Pie and Vine — an updated interpretation of Pasta Piatti — now touts richer, more authentic Italian cuisine with the addition of its new stone-hearth oven.  After doing business as Pasta Piatti for nearly 13 years in Ashland, the restaurant closed its doors, then reopened less than a month ago as Pie and Vine. "Pie" for its wood-fired, Neapolitan-style handmade pizzas and "Vine" for the homegrown tempranillo and pinot gris to be introduced in the months ahead. As a regular, albeit infrequent, patron at Pasta Piatti, I'd always found the fare to be fresh, simple and delicious. Under its new name and with the six-foot oven, the restaurant's Italian cuisine is changed for the better. The food's flavors are deeper and richer, and the menu has become more exciting. "We wanted that home Italian feeling," says Jason Esquerra, one of the restaurant's managers. "The classic Italian pizzas, the sauces. All very simple, delicious and with not much outsourcing. The idea is to make dishes fresh per order. It starts from the ground up with fresh pizza dough made daily." A friend and I walked into the restaurant's welcoming atmosphere on an early weeknight. The service that night was equally welcoming. Our waiter suggested glasses of tempranillo and settled us at a small table where we could talk. We noticed the ample, open seating in the newly refurbished dining area. Gone are the partitions and booths, and the focal points of the room are the oven and a long, well-lit cocktail bar. Looking over the menu, we knew we'd have to have one of the traditional Neapolitan pizzas made with tomato sauce and mozzarella. From the six choices of ingredients that range through combinations of torn basil, wild mushrooms, goat cheese, hazelnut pesto, langostino and more, we chose the Prosciutto, pepperoni, house sausage and coppa ($13.95). Each pizzas is hand-stretched and measures from 10 to 12 inches in diameter. For starters, we split a wood-fired Caesar ($8.50) and the bruschetta ($8.95). The upscale Caesar featured a delicious, creamy dressing drizzled over halves of whole romaine hearts. Perfectly roasted in the stone oven and sprinkled with grated Parmesan and croutons, the salad delivered a rich, delicious, smoky flavor. I thought the bruschetta would be a bit much along with a pizza, but it was the most exciting. This classy version of traditional antipasto stacks meaty, roasted Roma tomatoes and hand-pulled mozzarella on house-made focaccia, all drizzled with basil oil. One of my bites revealed a tiny, delicious, roasted garlic clove.  The restaurant, doing business as Pasta Piatti, always made most of its ingredients from scratch. "As much as they could," Esquerra says. "The way the owners and chef Sam Jackson have changed things up, we use a lot more house-made items and a lot more organic items. We cook our own meats, make our own sausage and meatballs, bake our own focaccia, make our own pasta, pull our own mozzarella, and all of our sauces and marinades, of course, are made fresh daily." Our evening was made more enjoyable by acoustic musician Dan Verner on Greek bouzouki, Turkish oud and Spanish guitar. He plays from 5:30 to 8:30 every Tuesday and Thursday night. Pie and Vine, 358 E. Main St., is a delicious, casual and affordable dining experience. The restaurant is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Lunch, dinner, carry-out and delivery are available. See pieandvine.co or call 541-488-5493. — Laurie Heuston