NVM Review

By Warren Rojas

Food: 8.5 Ambiance: 8.3 Service: 8.2

A fast favorite of the legal professionals and academia that traffic about Fairfax—I spent one evening listening to a doddering professor lecture his tablemates about the mythological succession that ultimately birthed Avatar—Villa Mozart continues to court those curious about Northern Italian cuisine.

Chef/owner Andrea Pace eschews culinary orthodoxy in favor of alimentary extremes, be they buttery, baked tilefish tethered to amaroidal asparagus or bittersweet chocolate noodles coated in brawny wild game ragout superseded by dazzling spearmint.

A paean to Italian dairy features ricotta and burratta bundled with caramelized leeks in flaky dough, while a quivering mound of dewy mozzarella is emboldened by hot pepper-spiked extra virgin olive oil and crushed pistachios.

Sautéed-till-glassy zucchini moistens a salad of peppery greens, crumbled sausage, stewed chickpeas and saliferous goat cheese.

Feathery homemade gnocchi are grounded by a stirring puttanesca executed with anchovies, capers and black olives.

By Warren Rojas

Food: 8.6 Ambiance: 8.2 Service: 8

“Be careful. This might not make it to your wife,” a fellow Villa Mozart patron half-jokingly warned a generous tablemate considering passing his plate past a row of ravenous companions.

I wonder if chef/owner Andrea Pace was aware his adventurous Italian cuisine can inspire mutiny even among close friends?

A summer treat of crab gazpacho—“You made a really good choice,” an adjoining diner couldn’t help but blurt out after overhearing my food order—yields chilled fruit (sunny tomatoes aided only by olive oil and fresh black pepper) that flirts with sweet, while a central pillar of shredded crab adds protein brawn.

Delicate ricotta dumplings are encircled by a moat of pureed English peas, while planks of sauteed porcinis stand guard (delectable).

Creamy grains of carnaroli rice absorb some sweet from with port-braised onions, a hint of bubbliness from a quivering sheet of Moscato d’Asti gelee and plenty of potency from a gorgeous floret sculpted from tongue-teasing curls of shaved gorgonzola (marbled blue weaves sharpness into every bite).

By Warren Rojas

Food: 8.0 Ambiance: 7.8 Service: 7.5

Chef/owner Andrea Pace may be in a different zip code, but his heart remains firmly planted in Northern Italy.

The former Fiore di Luna toque jumped to Fairfax City earlier this year to open his first privately owned venture, bringing along a handful of old favorites and some fresh perspective.

The elegant yet understated establishment greets guests with muted cream walls, shimmering musical clefs and an artful arrangement of vintage corkscrews. Leather-wrapped chairs and vest- and tie-clad servers project a sense of sophistication, even though locals remain comfortable waltzing in sans too much finery (casual attire seems to be the norm).

Balsamic-splashed watermelon straddles cured octopus while a diced orange-pineapple medley mounts succulent scallops (bold pairings). Sauteed sausage anchors a salad of arugula, onions, chickpeas and sun-dried tomatoes.

Homemade pappardelle glisten with nutty gorgonzola sauce (broad noodles, thinned sauce). Elsewhere, curls of freshly shaved parmesan inject some much-needed saltiness into a bowl of pancetta penne swamped by a too-sweet-by-a-hair roasted-tomato sauce.