Spritzing in Style at Aperitivo

A few summers ago, on the last afternoon of a somewhat exhausting family vacation to Europe with our young kids, I slipped through a tourist-jammed square near Florence’s Ponte Vecchio into a smaller, almost abandoned piazza just steps away. This is where I found Le Volpi e l’Uva, an enoteca whose mellow vibes belied a revelatory wine selection and subtly exquisite cuisine. For more than two hours, I did what I’d been wanting to do for weeks: just chill out, casually nibbling on dish after dish as an extremely knowledgeable server shared ever more enlightening sips, her genuine excitement growing with each delivered glass.

A few weeks ago, that comfortable combination of quenched curiosity and corporal contentment came over me again, but this time in the form of vermouth-spiked Sardinian spritzes and scallop crudo in a lardo vinaigrette. I wasn’t in Italy this time, but a half block off of State Street, sitting in the parklet of Aperitivo on West Haley, where co-owner/sommelier Andrea Girardello tends to fascinating drinks while co-owner/chef Brian Dodero creates colorful, delicately delicious food.

It was my second time there since they’d fully reopened in April, following a brief six-week debut from their October opening until the December lockdown. I first wrote about Aperitivo back in January, when the duo launched a weekly pasta club to transport their pairings of unique Italian wines and traditional cuisine into your home, with an easy DIY element. That experience, which still continues today (order on Sunday; pickup on Tuesday), was just a tease. I couldn’t wait to properly indulge inside the small space they’d taken over in March 2020, which was formerly Mosto Crudo and the short-lived Champagne Room.