"Pizza and pasta dough are made on site, and ravioli are rolled, stuffed and cut by hand.  Fresh veal is pounded for Saltimboca, and innovative refinements of classics, such as lamb Osso Buco, and asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto di Parma swathed in Mascarpone cheese make dining decisions difficult."

 DublinLife,
 April 2006

GAMBLE PAYS OFF FOR RELOCATED RESTAURANT

Published:  Thursday, March 16, 2006

FEATURES – WEEKENDER 18

By Jon Christensen

The Columbus Dispatch

Latavola

6125 Riverside Drive

614-760-8700

5 to 10 p.m.  Tuesdays through Thursdays, 5 to 11 p.m.  Fridays and Saturdays, 5 to 10 p.m.  Sundays

Rating:  ***** (out of five)

Value:  ++++ (out of five)

Ambience:  country lodge plus bustling, sometimes noisy Italian trattoria

Quick click:  The new LaTavola is better than ever.

Recommended dishes:  soups, zucchini strips, bruschetta, asparagus in prosciutto, baccala cakes, duck-sausage risotto, duck-and-mushroom pizza, roasted shrimp, duck breast, venison, pappardelle with meat sauce, striped bass over polenta, berry tart, panna cotta, raspberry sorbet, tiramisu

Smoking policy:  nonsmoking

Reservations:  accepted

Handicapped-accessibility:  good

In the restaurant world, expansion is risky.  So is moving.  Restaurants that do both are rolling the dice.

LaTavola's move from Powell to Dublin, however, proved successful: Business is booming, and the food has never been better.  Chef and owner Rick Lopez and his wife and pastry chef, Krista, have taken over the former Riverside space and made it theirs.

It’s one a handful of restaurants where the staff knows not only how to pronounce bruschetta (broo-SKEH-tah) but how to prepare it.  On one plate, the restaurant served the crisped bread three ways ($8); one topped with garlic and herbs, one with sautéed chard and smoked bacon, and one with mixed mushrooms and Gorgonzola.

LaTavola is also the only restaurant to feature a classic Italian method of preparing asparagus ($7); wrapped tightly in thin slices of prosciutto, dipped in egg batter and grilled.  The dish is made in a grill that . . . . [More»]

Columbus Dispatch,
March 16, 2006

"I can think of no better definition of depth-of-flavor than old world dishes like the pappardelle with slow-braised short rib and pork or the boar and veal meatballs with apple and fennel.  Just smashing, dude, smashing.  And though the specials change weekly, the flavors remain spectacular daily.  For the money (half-orders available) and the slavish devotion to quality ingredients simply prepared, La Tavola remains the city's best restaurant." -- Johnny Diloretto

A Bite With Johnny,
Thursdays at 10 & 11 on NewsCenter  ABC6 · Fox28

"Change your address book: Trattoria La Tavola has moved from Powell to the former Riverview restaurant on Riverside Drive between Hayden Run Road and Rt. 161.  Although there are changes; Rick Lopez fans will find continuities with the first
 La Tavola and its predecessor, Crescendo Pastaria.  The really good news is that
 the food still deserves four stars."  
Columbus Monthly, April 2006