Vai, Upper West Side, NYC

I’ve disagreed with other people’s commentary that the Upper West Side is a culinary wasteland. I’ve begun to discover a bunch of restaurants serving food that I’d go back for. Take Vai, on Amsterdam at about 80th, as an example.

I was invited by chef /owner Vincent Chirico’s publicist to join her for a tasting of his contemporary Mediterranean foods with Italian influence featuring seasonal fresh ingredients. Vincent — who worked with the “big guys” in this country (Daniel, Jean-George, Rocco, Marcus) and France before going out on his own. He opened this location of Vai (which means “go” in Italian) about 5 years ago.

We started with a light and refreshing hamachi with avocado and grapefruit in a preserved lemon-ginger sauce ($17), followed by the oozing burratta surrounded by split muscat grapes topped with chopped salted marcona almonds in white balsamic garnished with Thai basil ($14). Unusually delicious.

Don’t miss the chunks of charred Portuguese octopus ($16.5) sitting atop a puddle of jalapeno pesto surrounded by local fingerling potato, garnished with fun, crunchy garlic chips. Vincent uses some Calabrian chili to add a bit of spiciness to the dish. Yum! The only dish of Vincent’s that I wasn’t so wild about is his sauteed calamari with arbiquena olives ($14); it was good, just not as unusual as the others.

A dish with a twist is Vincent’s presentation of multi-colored heirloom carrots standing on end in Greek yogurt along with sauteed Spring ramps and crisp Iberico ham pieces.

My favorite dish (other than the octopus) was the roasted king oyster and baby organic shiitake mushrooms brought in from Farmer Jones’ The Chef’s Garden in velvety white polenta topped with a soft cooked egg, Parmesan shreds…all drizzled with truffle oil ($15). Don’t miss this comfort food at its best.

After that we were served a complementary creamy almond custard topped with candied chopped almonds, such a perfect treat I thought to end the meal. With that, I realized we had sampled so many of his fabulous starters that we didn’t get to his main dishes! If they’re as creative as his apps, I’ll have to return.

We did have one more bite — his milk chocolate mousse cake with a sort of melted mascarpone cream sauce on top with added espresso to cut the sweetness ($11); a perfect size…. worth the calories.

I do recommend a trip to the UWS to “vai” to Vai! (Pardon my attempt at Italian.)