Viale

V the People

Rye, Pasta and Taxidermy in Central Square

None 4 Photos Viale
Tonight’s cast of characters:

—Homemade fettuccine.
—Brown liquor.
—A North African impala.
—You.
—Someone who likes homemade fettuccine, brown liquor, North African impalas and you.

Let’s see how it all pans out at Viale, a rising power in the world of pizza, pasta and liquor, opening tonight in Central Square. (See the slideshow here.)

This was Rendezvous. You were sad when it closed back in June. But now you’re happy, because two Green Street vets stepped in, and now it’s this...

The kind of low-key place where you can inch up to a washed-concrete bar after work and recoup with a rye-and-rum 1919 under the watch of a mounted impala head. The African antelope, not the American automobile.

Yet it’s also the perfect setup for a “no big deal” date that begins with fried calamari pizza and a discussion of the street art and backlit map of Central Square on the wall. Try to pinpoint your location on it. Promptly give up and move on to saffron fettuccine with lobster. (Here’s the menu.)

Finally, you finish with affogato.

“Isn’t that vanilla ice cream with espresso?” your date asks.

“You’re wrong. They add Amaro Montenegro here,” you assert.

Maybe never say that instead.

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