Ristorante DaVinci gets it perfect–almost

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES

My boy and I had been having a airly wretched month—2007: Has yours blown too?—when my boss palmed me a Franklin and told me to take the kid to DaVinci. Did the gorgeous ristorante take away all the pain? Well, no. After I ate a plate of venison that probably wasn’t even dead yet, my stomach was in worse shape than my fragile mental health. But you know what? If my boss handed me another bill, I’d eat there tomorrow.

On the third floor of a Long Beach Airport hangar, Ristorante DaVinci is a sumptuous place, with its 20-foot-high curved glass wall beyond which private jets touch down between the blue lights of the runways. It really doesn’t feel like a Long Beach place at all: It’s so nouveau, deliciously—like if Newport Beach money married someone with taste. Even then, the changing LED displays of Leonardo’s works keep it from being too overweeningly tasteful. Everything’s better with a little Las Vegas glitz.

My sweet son has very fancy tastes, and like I said, our month had been trying, so I told him to go ahead and order away. Appetizer, entrée and dessert: Go crazy, kid! (And I wouldn’t even be getting laid!) We discussed the Sevruga caviar, but when our waiter, Vincent, murmured, “I believe the caviar is $155,” we stuck to the delicious bread and trio of pesto-, garlic- and truffle butters instead. The breadsticks came in the shape of cigars, and we had a fond moment remembering Top Chef’s sweat-soaked Howie and the sneering all the judges had done. The breadsticks were fucking fine!

For our appetizers, wishing the caviar a sad goodbye, my boy ordered the oysters and I the carpaccio. His were served charmingly in tall, thin shot glasses, topped with a juicy bruschetta and a ginger white wine. It was sometimes difficult to coax them from their narrow home, but the flavors were exquisite. My carpaccio was styled into a kind of meat sushi (appropriately), wrapped to resemble a California roll of raw beef, and was served with ginger and plated with scattered petals of pink and yellow and delicate white. The beef was sliced a bit thick and required a few chews—but only in the best of ways.

The salad Leonardo was gorgeous: A big-spending GOP foodie friend once told me he always orders whatever dish has the restaurant’s name right there in it. This one had sweet strawberries, crunchy pear, and a soggy poached fig. There was slightly shaved nut for crunch and a light vanilla yogurt dressing. I now put vanilla yogurt on everything.

Our entrees came quickly: The venison for me, a sight that made me laugh. It was practically Godzilla right on my plate, two honking hunks of dead wrapped up pretty in delicate phyllo dough. It came with a rich mushroom ricotta, a trio of sauces and was surrounded by a cornucopia of autumn vegetables: baby corn, bell peppers, cauliflower and tiny carrots. The first bite was delicious; the second, mushy and bloating in my mouth, made me sick. I asked to take it home, not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings, and then I threw it away.

Jimmy fared much better: His “cartoccio,” a dish of prawns, scallops, mussels, clams and calamari, was brought to the table still tented with foil, the better to dramatically rip the foil in the middle and allow the seafood steam to escape. Underneath was a bed of linguine we at first mistook for seaweed; it was flavorful and savory, colored black with octopus ink. What was left of that one made it to the fridge and then, the next day, to my lunch plate.

We got a huge chocolate dessert, a great glass of wine for me that Vincent recommended, and even after a 25 percent tip, we still had $4 left over. And most of two meals, too.

RISTORANTE DAVINCI 2801 E SPRING ST | LONG BEACH 90806 | 562.685.8111 | DAVINCILB.COM | DINNER FOR TWO $50-250 | FULL BAR

Tags: Food, long beach airport, ristorante davinci, venison