Bites Nearby: La Vite Ristorante Is A Delicious Destination on A Sunny Day

The only thing that's better than a bottle of wine is an excellent dish to complement it. At La Vite Ristorante in the La Casa Narcisi Winery, there is plenty of wonderful wine and fabulous food. The restaurant has a  large outdoor seating area and great entertainment on the weekends.

Overview:  

La Vite Ristorante is the restaurant inside La Casa Narcisi Winery. Located on Route 910 in Gibsonia, just over the border in West Deer Township, the winery is a great place to go year-round, but it's transcendental when the sun's shining.

Step out of your car and into a bit of central Italy. The  atmosphere is casual and friendly. There is entertainment on Friday nights and Saturday and Sunday afternoons, usually a band or musician. The Edgell Brothers performed on the Sunday we were there, and they were a great acoustic cover band, perfect for the laid-back atmosphere.

On the last Thursday of each month there is a regional-themed wine dinner.

Décor:

Italian, with lots of wrought iron and nature-themed stenciling. There are a couple of high tables on the main floor under the staircase, a relatively new addition on that same level with tables, and the original upstairs dining area.

That's for bad weather days. When it's nice, you can dine al fresco. In the main outside dining area, dozens of tables surround a gurgling fountain. This is a full-service food area.

There is another large, covered pavilion with picnic tables where you can bring your own food, but you order the winery wine. The pavilion is available for rental.

There is a bandstand at the outer edge of the property with a huge lawn area where people are encouraged to picnic. It's a popular option for families, and children love to frolic in the grass while their parents enjoy the music. You can bring your own food to this area, too.

Reservations are suggested for the full-service restaurant areas. If you just show up on a beautiful summer evening on the weekend, the wait for a table can be a couple of hours. Weekdays are less crowded.

The Drinks: 

When you enter the main doors of the winery, there is a tasting bar where you can try whatever wines are available. Then, buy a bottle or order by the glass. You can request any leftovers in the bottle be corked to take home. The wines are good, much improved from when the winery first opened a few years ago, and are reasonably priced.  

One puzzling thing: The wines are cyclical and depend upon harvest and various other circumstances. And yet, although the food menu changes as needed, the wine menu can have a wine listed that's been out of circulation for quite some time. It would seem more logical to update the wine menu more often. Still, it would be difficult not to find a wine to your taste. Glasses range in price from $4.50 to $7  and the bottles from $9.50 to $20. The most popular wine is the Stella. Soda is available for non-drinkers.

Appetizers:

They're all delicious, the ones we've had anyway, but our favorite appetizer is the Antipasto Platter ($18.99), which is almost a meal in itself for two people. It features imported cheeses, Italian meats, marinated grilled vegetables and other tasty morsels. The Calamari Fritti ($9.99) is particularly well-prepared, and the dipping sauce is fabulous. The Stuffed Banana Peppers ($10.99) are also very good, but the heat index of the peppers can vary.

Entrees:

We have made it a family goal to eat everything on the La Vite menu at least once, and we're getting there. If you can eat only one thing, let it be the Pasta LuLu ($14.99), grilled chicken, spinach and fusilli pasta in a gorgonzola cream sauce. You will want to lick the dish when you're done. The Shrimp Diavolo ($15.99) is another favorite for those of us with a spicy bent. The Pasta Vite ($14.99) and Gnocchi Pomodoro ($13.99) also are excellent.

Regardless of what else we order at La Vite, we always get a pizza to go with it. My son orders the traditional cheese pizza ($11.99) and then asks them to put calamari (from the appetizer menu) on the pizza. I don't know how much extra that costs, but it makes a pizza worth paying extra for. For the rest of us, it's always a toss-up between the Pepperoni and Banana Pepper Pizza ($13.99) or the Margherita Pizza ($12.99).

There is a selection of salads, and you can't go away without at least trying the Italian Chopped Salad ($3.99) as a starter. The Caesar Salad ($3.99) features garlic cheese crisps instead of croutons, a clever and preferable substitution. The Caprese Salad ($5.99) also is a favorite, almost more of an appetizer with its presentation.

Bread, warm from the oven with a roasted tomato dipping sauce is served with the salads. In the entrée salad category, the C&S Salad ($15.99), which stands for Chicken and Shrimp, is one of the best items on the menu.

As far as entrees go, there are two sections, Griglia a La Vite, which means "grilled", and Specialties. Grilled foods include a delicious, tender Gorgonzola Filet ($27.99) served with a creamy, addictive mushroom risotto, as well as several beef, pork and fish dishes. Specialties include Veal Marsala ($19.99) and raviolis and lasagnas.

The menu varies with the seasons and ingredient availability, and the menu online might not be the same menu available at the restaurant.

Desserts:

Again, the menu varies, but we were lucky enough to be there on a day when they had Blueberry Ravioli ($7.99), which was a fried dessert ravioli stuffed with blueberries and mascarpone cheese and drizzled with a balsamic glaze. Other choices are Tiramisu ($7.99), a Brownie ($6.99) and other items that change with the seasons and the rest of the menu.

Service:  The service is very friendly, but this is not a place to go when you're in a hurry. Sit back, sip wine, enjoy the music. Your food will get there when it gets there.

Signature Dish:

Pizza and pasta.

Cost:

$ to $$

Hours:

11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday & Saturday and 11 a.m. to 98 p.m. Sunday. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays and major holidays.

4578 Gibsonia Road (Route 910), Gibsonia, 724- 444-4744

http://www.narcisiwinery.com/