Vidalia

Named for the sweet onion grown in Georgia, this Italian-influenced restaurant in Lawrenceville offers good food at modest prices.

By: Patrick Mooney

   THE first thing one notices about Vidalia is the small dining room. Yet instead of being claustrophobic, it is an intimate space with cozy banquets and a profusion of flowers — real, silk and painted. The tables are covered in striped, rust-colored fabric topped by a sheet of Plexiglas.
   The menu at this Lawrenceville BYO is, in some general sense, Italian, although Vidalia grabs influences wherever it can. Starters on the Italian side of the ledger include a pleasant and meaty chicken orzo soup ($2.95/bowl) and a special described as "Tour of Italy." The "tour" turns out be a well-prepared sauté of perfectly cooked broccoli rabe, sweet Italian sausage and sliced cherry peppers ($7.95), which add just enough fire to the dish.
   From the eclectic side of things, we enjoyed shrimp wrapped in bacon ($8.95), along with a sliver of jalapeño and served with a nicely balanced sweet/tart barbecue sauce, on the side, as requested.
   Given the restaurant’s name, it seemed appropriate to try the baked Vidalia onion ($6.95). The large onion is stuffed with sausage and Pecorino Romano cheese, topped with mozzarella and baked just enough to bring out the sweetness of the onion, but still retain a bit of crunchiness.

Vidalia owner Jimmy DiMattia at one of the tables outside. Staff photo by Mark Czajkowski

   Salad is included with the entrée, and a nice salad it is. The house salad consists of Romaine lettuce, thin slices of red onion, tomato and olives, all dressed in your choice of interesting vinaigrettes. Of those we tried, the standout for originality and taste was the orange vinaigrette, with a refreshing citrusy zing.
   Overall, the entrées were fine but don’t quite match the enjoyment level of the appetizers. Veal Marsala ($17.95) is a fairly classic preparation of tender slices of sautéed veal in a Marsala wine and mushroom sauce that would have benefited from a few more salt shakes while still in the pan.
   The grilled meat trio ($22.95) — filet mignon and pork and lamb chops — although made with good quality meat, suffered from overcooking, and the bed of sautéed spinach dressed with balsamic vinegar reduction was a bit too intense.
   Chicken Carolina ($16.95) is a pasta dish of linguini tossed with chicken filet, red onion, mushrooms and fresh mozzarella, brought together well with a pleasant tomato sauce.
   The evening’s winner for best presentation goes to the pan-roasted halibut ($19.95) that arrived at the table impaled with a flaming sprig of rosemary. It’s the kind of presentation that attracts the dining room’s attention. Sitting atop a lobster cream sauce, the halibut was properly cooked, but the accompanying scallops had an off taste and texture. The sauce, incorporating asparagus and artichokes, is rich but works well with the dish.

Vidalia’s dining room is an intimate space with cozy banquets and a profusion of flowers — real, silk and painted. Staff photo by Mark Czajkowski

   All of the entrées, including, curiously, the pasta, are served with sides of sautéed spinach and your choice of baked potato or mashed sweet potatoes. If confronted with this choice, do not hesitate to select the nicely flavored sweet potato mash. The baked potato, plain at the best of times, was a bit soft in some spots and hard in others, making me wonder if it had been microwaved at some point in the process
   Some desserts are made in-house, some aren’t. On this particular evening, those available were made outside the restaurant, although the owner assured us they are homemade nonetheless. We selected two tarts — lemon meringue and fresh berry ($5.95). For the lemon meringue, a dome of fluffy white meringue floats above lemon filling, which rests in wonderfully flaky pastry crust. The tart is very nice, but perhaps a bit too sweet.
   Digging into the berry tart, one’s fork slides through the layer of berries into the vanilla pastry cream, and then, just before hitting the crust, a secret layer of dark chocolate emerges. A lovely preparation and presentation.
   The owner, who serves as host, and the one waitress, are pleasant and chatty. For example, we learned the owner had just returned from Sicily. Vidalia is the kind of place where the customers and staff either already know each other or soon will — cross-table chatting is common. The space is a bit precious, but comfortably so, and the food is generally good while modestly priced.
For directions to Vidalia, click here.