BY KAREN DEUTSCH • PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANGEL TUCKER
VIOLA CUCINA 296 County Rd ., Barrington , 252-4272 , violacucina . com Open for dinner Tuesday – Sunday . Reservations recommended . Wheelchair accessible . Lot parking .
CUISINE Intensely Italian .
CAPACITY Fifty .
VIBE The atmosphere falls between rustic and makeshift , but the food will put you in Naples .
PRICES Appetizers : $ 7 –$ 23 ; entrees : $ 23 –$ 40 ; dessert : $ 9 –$ 15 .
KAREN ’ S PICKS Veal and peas . Everything with tomato sauce .
familiar menu but that ’ s not what Viola is about . Everything here is recognizable to a born and bred northern Italian — Bolognese , Milanese , Piedmont-inspired dishes — and yet the kitchen has managed to elevate tradition into a contemporary elegy .
The space itself holds just under fifty people but it feels smaller than that . There are no nooks or alcoves — it ’ s a simple square decorated in wood and tile , neutral but not fully rustic . Vintage photos and pottery adorn the walls and Frank Sinatra is singing with full abandon overhead . And , sure enough , there are usually some of those local kids tucked into a seat with a screen , munching on loaves of coarsely salted , warm focaccia ($ 7 /$ 12 ) that comes out on boards with roasted garlic and flavored butter .
But the first wave of Viola ’ s disposition comes from its staff , who are sincerely earnest . Everyone has eaten their way through executive chef Jon Hager ’ s menu and they
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