Ventnor dining establishment delivers a top-notch culinary experience
Ask Maria Conti about Dom Rizzo, owner and operator of Domenico’s restaurant in Ventnor, and the first word you’ll hear is “passionate.”
If anyone, she should know.
Conti, Rizzo’s partner in business and life, met the 40-year-old chef while working together at another Downbeach eatery, The Red Room Cafe, two summers past.
The pair have been inseparable since.
Conti’s family, original owners of the trattoria, sold the business after one season. This was despite having garnished quite a bit of positive press, including a favorable review from this corner.
Rizzo, by his own candid description “created” the Red Room’s bill of fare, then “finished the second season with new owners” prior to moving on.
Opening in September 2008, Domenico’s reflects Rizzo’s steady progression up the ranks in the culinary industry.
The menu is graceful with nary a hint of pretentiousness. Food, straightforward, intelligent and ingredient-driven, shows an admirable amount of reverence and restraint. The son of Sicilian and Abruzzi parents, Rizzo — with forearms the size of tree trunks — looks every bit the tough-guy Bronx native transplant.
“I started off at the bottom,” Rizzo says, adding that his first job was in a Queens pizzeria at age 12, folding boxes and cleaning up.
By his later teens, the aspiring cook moved on to making pies, eventually landing posts in New York and West Patterson, N.J.
But it was at his “best friend’s” restaurant — Joseph’s on Passyunk Avenue in Philadelphia — that his culinary star began its current ascension.
Moving south with his pal, Rizzo helped run the kitchen at the Somers Point outpost Tucker’s on Bay Avenue (Now 800 Bay) for several years.
We visited Domenico’s on a recent weeknight and were a bit surprised at how jammed the 50-seat BYOB remained, even after 8pm.
Our meal began with an evening’s addition appetizer of roasted figs, stuffed with gorgonzola cheese, wrapped in the smoked prosciutto called “speck.” That prized pig flesh provided both crunch and flavor, accenting the Italian bleu. Situated atop an auburn stripe of Port wine reduction, the round pieces of fig were like dusky gems on the narrow plate.
Once consumed, the speck burst out an initial layer of porky goodness, yielding to creamy fruit and tangy cheese. We generally hold to the purist attitude that prosciutto should only be served raw, but this product, with that smoky essence, excelled as a roasted exterior.
If you’re gonna call something a “special,” it had better be.
These figs, sweet, salty and seasonally timely too, were all that.
My companion’s choice, love boats, are a combination of pale-yellow endive leaves filled with diced red onion and black olives, cannellini beans, tomatoes and crabmeat topped with a sweet balsamic glaze.
My entree — at Conti’s suggestion — was the spaghettini with crab. A heaping bowl of perfectly cooked strands of thin pasta, tossed with plenty of jumbo lump crab meat in a light, lively tomato sauce, finished by a hint of vodka.
Two and half decades prior to the Atlantic City depicted in Boardwalk Empire, our region’s original dining dynasty began. Harry “Dock” Dougherty opened the doors of his eponymous seafood house, Dock’s Oyster House, at 2405 Atlantic Ave., in 1897.
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1. Kat said... on Aug 23, 2010 at 06:38AM
“Looking for a menu or website if anyone can help...thanks.”
2. Anonymous said... on Aug 28, 2010 at 10:51PM
“Delicious, fresh ingredients with a creative flair make this restaurant a winner. Everything is really very good. The mussel appetizer and the rare tuna entree are exceptional. The chef/owners are terrific and try to mingle wanting to be sure that their diners have a wonderful experience. This restaurant is a keeper!!”