Food & Drink
Review: La Tavola’s New Owner Refreshes the Menu With Flavors from His Native Sardinia
Luca Useli—who took over the Little Italy fixture after former chef Carlo Vignotto retired—wants to provide the same quality food from his home island, a designated Blue Zone where residents live long, productive lives.
When Luca Useli arrived in Baltimore from the island of Sardinia, he was 18 years old, spoke no English, and worked as a dishwasher at his aunt’s restaurant, Daniela Pasta & Pastries, in Hampden. Eventually, he moved from the kitchen to the front of house and managing roles. Today, Useli is 31, has mastered the language barrier, and is the owner of La Tavola in Little Italy.
He took over the restaurant two years ago when former chef Carlo Vignotto retired after more than two decades. Useli says he misses the country where he was born and raised but has no regrets about the move. “I was meant to be here,” he says.
Useli calls himself an entrepreneur, not a chef, though he is responsible for the menu’s lineup, which features many family recipes.
“It’s a work in progress,” he says, as he slowly introduces Sardinian food and wine to the menu’s more traditional Southern Italian offerings. Useli wants to provide the same quality food from his homeland that led to the island being designated one of the world’s Blue Zones, where residents live long, productive lives, many to age 100.
A simple diet is considered a contributor. As such, you’ll find dishes like a regional preparation of linguine vongole, featuring a mound of bottarga, which Useli calls Sardinian caviar. Tangles of fresh-made pasta, glistening in a white wine sauce and surrounded by castanet-sized clams, get a salty kick from the dried fish roe.
On the more traditional front, tomato-sauce lovers will find many dishes to satisfy, from veal scallopini to rigatoni puttanesca. We lapped up the lasagna Bolognese, which weaved a stew of red meat sauce and a subtle bechamel sauce amid the ribbons of noodles.
But before diners indulge in the big plates, there are antipasti and salads to consider. The fritto misto takes a light-handed approach with flash-fried calamari and shrimp delivered to the table with, yes, more red sauce. The rounds of squid and tentacles were tender, and the shrimp was juicy. We just wish there had been more of the shrimp, instead of the two buried in the pile. We appreciated the well-portioned eggplant appetizer. Rounds of aubergine are fried before being layered with tomatoes and mozzarella and then baked in a pomodoro sauce.
Salads range from field-greens to a lush burrata presentation, showcasing a tennis-ball heap of the creamy cheese atop strips of roasted red bell peppers and arugula splashed with balsamic vinaigrette.
If you haven’t had your fill of cheese, the formaggi misti is a satisfying finish to a meal. Our platter was laden with goat cheese, Taleggio, Gorgonzola, pecorino, and semistagionato. La Tavola’s house-made cannoli gets full marks in a town where the pastry is a mainstay on many menus. A pizzelle shell bundles ricotta cream studded with pistachios, almonds, and dried fruit for a dreamy melding of texture and flavor.
Useli, who has been remodeling the interior of the restaurant himself, is just getting started. His goal: “I want a beautiful restaurant filled with people who are having a good time.”
LA TAVOLA: 248 Albemarle St., Little Italy, 410-685-1859. HOURS: Wed. 4-10 p.m.; Thurs., Fri., Sun. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sat. 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. PRICES: Appetizers: $8-22; salads, $12-18; entrees: $22-36.