Il Vecchio in Monterey Bay’s Pacific Grove is simply divine!
I’ve eaten at Il Vecchio a few times and have yet to be disappointed. In fact, I’ve eaten at many Italian restaurants, and this stop is one of the best. From the authentic wait staff to authentic housemade pasta, Il Vecchio delivers the pizzazz. You don’t leave without feeling satisfied, full, and feeling like you made a quick stop to the Tuscan region of Italy.
Since we visited on my 30th birthday, the meal started with a celebratory prosecco. Cheers! A new decade to pursue, and a decade of accomplishment congratulated.
To start, we had the brussels sprouts and burrata as a second dish. Roasted brussels sprouts are pretty self-explanatory, but the fresh burrata dish from Il Vecchio is simply poignant. Creamy, fresh mozzarella straight from Italy, pillowing over tomatoes, fresh basil, and crostini. With burrata, you take a moment, enjoy, relish, and repeat.
Continuing the Il Vecchio Adventure
For my main dish, I tried the osso buco pasta, and oh, what a great choice it was! Beef-shank, red wine, tomato, mushrooms, with “reginette” pasta. Despite the large portion, I ate every last bit. At this point, I basked in the glory that was the over-head heater due to dining curbside for COVID.
Barrett had Spaghetti deCecco from Italy as his main — complete with meatballs made with beef and pork in classic tomato sauce.
As a colossal, beautiful finish, we ended the evening with vino santo — colosi, passito, sweet wine, and late-harvest grapes and then The Prince. The Prince is a Florentine recipe from Lorenzo de Medici, strawberry puree simmered with 12-year-old balsamic over vanilla gelato.
Choosing to celebrate my 30th eating Italian food ended up being the perfect choice. Maybe revisit for my 40th?
