A review of Vito's from Sixer Magazine
October 2002
He’s always on his toes, but on this particular evening our lively host was jumping like a cat on a hot tin roof.What made friendly Walkley restaurateur Vito Ciaraolo so agitated! It might have been the fact that his regular chef, younger sister Lucia, was taking her annual holiday and our man was having to take a turn in the kitchen. But it wasn’t.Another family member was giving our boy palpitations.Cutting to the chase,Vito’s wife Graziella was in the local maternity unit and the general verdict from the medics was:“Any day now.” Under such circumstances it would have been forgivable if the expectant father had been a little heavy with the salt, or rushed in his presentation. Instead, most commendably, he held it together - the atmosphere in the restaurant was as delightfully relaxing as on our previous visits - and the food gave further confirmation why Vito’s is consistently rated one of the best Italians in Sheffield. This is always a great place to come for pasta and I began with a very generous starter portion of Orchiette Lucane, pasta shells cooked with tomato and cream, cheese, artichokes, mortadella peppers and basil. My partner also selected a winner in Zucchini Ripieni, courgettes hol- lowed and filled with ham, parmesan, garlic and cream sauce, baked in the over and served almost dry. We both relished the intense flavours.

 

With such generous servings it’s nice to have a break between courses and we enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere (quiet nights are few and far between here) before the mains arrived. Vito serves great fish and shellfish but on this occasion we were both in a meaty mood - and a gutsy plateful of Agnello Siculo kept me quiet for several minutes. This is very tender lamb, cooked in slightly spicy Madeira sauce with brandy, onions, peppers, mushrooms and garlic. The meat must have fallen off the bone and I savoured every last forkful. Meanwhile, across the table my partner was tucking into Fileto Pepato - fillet steak cooked with fresh cream, peppercorns, brandy and a hint of mustard. Delicious! When it comes to wine Vito is a bit of an expert. He has a great selection of Italian wines; including some unusual labels you may not have come across before and for every day drinking the house red, which we enjoyed with our main course, is rather good too. 


 Puddings! If you insist. When Lucia is in the kitchen her Tiramisu is the tops, on this occasion we rounded off a fine meal with good strong coffee and Tartufo Bianco, a classic semifreddo with a centre of coffee ice cream covered with a fine white crushed meringue and pralinated nuts. It was the perfect way to end the evening, well, almost. Less than an hour after the final customer had gone home,Vito received the call he’d been waiting for. He reached the hospital with minutes to spare and was soon beaming with pride as a beautiful healthy daughter, Liliana, was born, weighing in at just over eight pounds with dark blue eyes and brown hair. Mother and baby are now back home and the proud father can’t stop smiling. Talk about a Chef’s Special! • Bookings are now being taken for the Christmasl New Year’s Eve period. Parties are welcome - but hurry. Christmas Eve is already fully booked.




Vito's Italian Restaurant
284 South Road, Walkley,
Sheffield,
S6 3TE
United Kingdom
Telephone (0114) 2333574