Treasure Found: Lunch at Il Vecchio

May 17, 2024 – The bar is made from reclaimed church kneelers. Chairs serve as seating And Wall decoration. Window panes serve as partitions. Handcrafted tables are made from centuries-old boards.

Design is at the heart of the community jewel Il Vecchio. Old becomes new. What is incompatible finds harmony.

The design that really catches Found Treasure’s attention, however, is not so much the “creative art of executing aesthetic or functional designs” (one of Oxford’s definitions), but a different kind, namely “an underlying scheme that the functioning, development, or unfolding.”

This goal is to offer affordable, rustic, simple and thoughtful food and drink that, like the decor, creates an experience that is greater than the sum of its parts.

This is best applied to il vecchio’s limited lunch menu, served on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

A half-dozen traditional pastas, priced at $13.85 each, lead the way in value and enjoyment, drawing on imported artisan pastas from DeCecco and Rummo and fresh custom cuts from Bigoli in Sand City.

On a recent afternoon, our three guests shared four plates and, before tip, the bill came to $70. (In Italian, “un buon affare.”)

The burrata salad, which for me is a must at good Italian places, featured dripping fresh, racquetball-sized mozzarella curds on romaine and balsamic-marinated zucchini and root vegetables, a quantity that could be shared three ways for $12.50.

The 8-ounce grilled New York steak with caramelized balsamic onions, lettuce, and roasted herb potatoes was (slightly) overcooked, but (well) below market value at $18.50.

The delicious cod putanesca – also available in a lemon butter sauce – was just $15.85 with saffron rice and salad.

Finally, we followed waitress Regina’s advice on the pasta menu, as we had with the cod, and chose the soft orecchiette with Molinari sausage, peas and cremini mushrooms in a light cream sauce, a highlight among the highlights.

Meanwhile, Regina somehow stayed excited and filled the water carafe with fresh parmesan, even though she was working the lunch shift alone.

It all made for a Friday outing that felt relaxed and family-like, which was owner-operator Carl Alasko’s hope when he brought 15 years of experience from life in Italy – and the joys of Rome’s mom-and-pop trattorias – to Central Avenue on the border between Monterey and Pacific Grove.

“We’ve always wanted to be a place you come back to once or twice a week, where there’s not a big event but a welcome dinner at a neighborhood eatery,” he says.

It’s a reminder that less, done right, becomes more, in a timeless way that is expressed in the name, the “old fashioned”, “old type” or, if creative freedom is allowed, “Oldie, but good” means.

Dinner (from 5:00 p.m. each evening) and weekend breakfast (8:00 a.m. – 1:30 a.m. with mid-morning cocktails, large omelets and Belgian sourdough waffles) are of the same style, with a straightforward but filling wine list and peach… Bellinis for $6 for lunch or breakfast.

The continuous approach reminds me of the original opening of il vecchio.

Like many others, I was thrilled by the capital D design of clever recycled materials put together by Alasko’s professional sculptor, Ariele. But it was a straightforward, experiential design that stuck with me.

As people flocked to the spot, it became a crowded waiting area.

Instead of handing out pagers, Il Vecchio staff handed out flutes of prosecco.

If you buy good Prosecco in bulk, it is one of the better imported values ​​on the market. For a few dollars in cost, a potentially impatient newcomer could concentrate on sipping chilled champagne and suddenly be more likely to wait and tip more.

Something you have in stock takes on a new use, and a detail can inherently make a big difference.

More at ilvecchiorestaurant.com