Trattoria dining finds delicious niche at Davio

by Betsy Kline - The Pittsburgh Press restaurant critic.

A true Trattoria. Pittsburgh has a mere handful deserving of the name.

On a tip we ventured to Davio, a tiny corner restaurant with the colorful, artsy signs on the 42 South Hills Village T route in the residential tranquility of Beechview.

No bigger than a living room, Davio bursts with fine Italian peasant cookery and good cheer. Tasteful wallpaper and borders encircle the handful of tables. Homey touches abound: Fresh and dried flowers, gallons of olive oil and loaves of bread waiting to be slices.

After a short walk while waiting for a table to be vacated (some patrons wait in the neighborhood bar next door), we settled in and ravenously fixed out attention on the menu.  In no time at all we felt transported back to our recent visit to Rome and Florence. Lombatina di vitello. Ravioli con arogosta. Brushcetta. Polenta.

Davio is David Ayn, formerly of Cafe Cappuccino, Paradise Regained, the Fallen Angel and the four-star LaTache in Butler. Ayn, who started out scrubbing pots and learned the ropes from some of the city's finest chefs, says he "wanted a little place where only I can cook and do what I love. ... If diners enjoy their dinner, then the swollen ankles and carpal-tunneled wrists are worth it."

The rent was right, so the peripatetic chef landed in Beechview where he runs Davio with a kitchen assistant, Matthew Andiorio, and a sole waitress. Open six weeks, Davio already has attracted Ayn's old following. Business has been so brisk, that he is giving up his day off starting this Sunday to serve dinner.

The modestly priced, terrific cuisine, without argument, is the great news. The bad news is Davio's limited space: With seating for barely 30, there will always be lines, and with the staff of just three, there will always be waits.

We found it well worth the wait. Cindy the waitress didn't just serve, she worked the room, her eyes constantly roving from table to table as she poured complimentary red wine (Davio does not have a liquor license; patrons are invited to bring their own), refilled water glasses and kept the louvered door to the kitchen swinging in the breeze. Her efficiency may have been stretched to the max by the wall-to-wall crowd, but she didn't cut corners on her warm, personalized service.

No sooner has she taken our orders than she set us up with a bowl of the house's Fagiolini, a Tuscan white bean spread and a basket of thickly sliced, fluffy Italian bread. The combination of the slightly garlicky, rich-tasting spread and the fresh bread was luscious. Who needs butter?

From the appetizer roster of wedding soup ($1.50 a cup, $2.50 a bowl), roasted hot peppers stuffed with sausage, beef and veal ($3.95) and polenta with marinara sauce ($2.95), we selected the lobster bisque, ($2.50 a cup, $3.50 a bowl) and the brushetta ($2.95). Creamy rich and a tad salty, the bisque sported tiny bits of lobster and superb flavor. That and the fagiolini could have made a meal.

Radiant slices of firm tomato lounged on top of the neatly pan-fried garlic brushetta, complemented with lots of fresh basil and just a kiss of olive oil.

Other appetizers include escarole and beans in garlic oil ($4.95), hot sausage and polenta ($4.95) and toasted peppers with olive oil and anchovies ($4.95)

You can dine Italian style and order a pasta before your mail course or make pasta the centerpiece of your meal: linguine with escarole and beans ($7.95); linguine with marinara ($8.95); angel hair with lobster and shrimp in garlic oil ($13.95); fettuccine alfredo ($8.95) - you get the idea 

The main meal selections included a chicken parmigiana ($10.95), veal marsala ($10.95), lobster and shrimp diavolo with linguine ($13.95), sausage and polenta ($8.95), chicken milanese in lemon butter ($10.95), among others. The chef's specialties appear on the front of the menu: lobster ravioli ($12.95), grilled sirloin with pepper and lemon ($14.95), pan-fried steak siciliano ($15.95), pan-fried veal medallions ($12.95) or angel hair pasta with lobster tossed in a lobster-parmigiano cream sauce ($13.95).

Cindy recommended a dish not on the menu: a veal chop milanese at $21.95. It was exquisite. Huge and succulent, it was fork-tender and delicately pan-fried in it golden breading. Easily it was the nest ceal we've eaten in a long time. (Ayn's happy to take special requests, provided he has the ingredients on hand. That includes any special dietary needs - his Teflon pans are at the ready, he says, to accommodate requests for no-oil cooking.)

The capellini agli cinqueangeli (hair of five angels) was luscious as well, a large platter of pasta redolent of lobster both in the copious claw meat and the savory pastel sauce.

All full meals include the fagiolini, bread, tasty salad of lettuce, white beans and vegetables (gorgonzola optional) and a hearty side disk of pasta marinara.

A tantalizing complement of 16-inh pizzas (all white, from bean to clams) are listed as well, but they are for takeout only between the hours of 5 and 9pm. Prices range from $7.25 to $10.95.

Desserts are all homemade, and on that evening included both chocolate and amaretto cheesecakes, apple pie and various ice creams and ices, including raspberry, cinnamon and spumoni. We sampled the spumoni and cinnamon ice creams, densely textured confections that were almost chewy, but were very satisfying.

Beechview is blessed. any neighborhood would kill for a cozy dining spot like Davio.

Reviewer gave Davio a 3.5 out of 4 rating!