Beyond Pizza: Red Grape’s artisanal Italian fare
For years, the Red Grape has served great New Haven-style pizza and the best tomato soup in town, satisfying Sonomans and tourists at an affordable price. During a recent dinner at the Grape, I was stopped in my foodie tracks by a new menu addition: grilled octopus. This is not what I expect at the Grape! I admit, I have a love/hate relationship with octopus. I love the idea of eating tentacles, blame my teenage obsessions with surrealism and H.P. Lovecraft, but often get turned off by it being too chewy or lacking flavor. This octopus escapes those issues: beautifully presented, the octopus is grilled, after receiving a paprika rub, giving it a smoky taste and a meaty yet tender texture. It’s served with a menagerie of fingerling potatoes, red grapes (of course!), blood orange aioli, blood oranges, and arugula. It’s fresh tasting, with the blood orange bringing an acidic sweetness to the dish.
After a long hiatus, The Grape has started making desserts in house again. Recently, Executive Chef Todd Thompson only offered Fiorello’s gelato for dessert at the Grape, allowing him and his kitchen staff to focus on their task at hand: maintaining the legendary taste of the Grape’s pizza while introducing new and innovative artisanal Italian fare in a restaurant where it’s not always expected. The recently introduced deserts include a carrot cake, topped with cream cheese icing, which is one of the most delicious I have ever tasted in my life. It’s moist, carroty, nutty and sweet. The seasonal lemon cheesecake, made with lemon curd and topped with raspberry, has a cinnamony, graham cracker crust and an angelic quality that makes you feel like you’re sitting on a cloud of sweet goodness. I’m not exaggerating. It’s that good.
After three years, Chef Thompson is finally at home at the Grape. He took his time to build a kitchen team he is proud of and it’s evident in the quality of their new menu additions. Prior to the Grape, Thompson apprenticed with Evelyn Cheatham, the legendary founder of Worth Our Weight, where he built a skill set based on organic and slow food practices. Next, he perfected his artisanal Italian skills under Michael Chiarello at Bottega and expanded his culinary palate at notable institutions including Jole in Calistoga and Farm in Napa. All of this experience has led Thompson to create tasty menu additions to the classic Red Grape menu, a menu with creative dishes that can compete with notable Sonoma institutions like El Dorado Kitchen and Cafe La Haye, at half the price.
