La Cucina @ St. Clements, Oxford

Friends and readers — by no means mutually inclusive groups — will know of my long-standing admiration for La Cucina, the impeccably managed Italian restaurant just beyond the Plain in St Clements.

How long-standing? I wondered, during my most recent visit for a themed dinner featuring Tuscan dishes and wines. The boss, Yola Drage, at once supplied the answer, that it is eight years since chef Alberto Brunelli — her husband and co-owner — served the first customers there.

I was not among them, though I had known Alberto — who has worked in such notable gastronomic temples as Venice’s Cipriani Hotel and that great city’s almost as legendary Harry’s Bar — since 1999. As head chef when Quod opened in Oxford’s High Street, he showed me the correct way to carve a Parma ham during a press tour of his kitchens.

The small ‘opening tonight’ signs I saw at La Cucina on June 28, 2006, could hardly have been an invitation to Rosemarie and me, since they were viewed from a bus carrying us to Heathrow for a holiday flight to Greece. I vowed to make a review visit immediately on our return. I did so in mid July.

My review, I see, set the trend for many meals to come, with me enjoying one of the fish specials (this one grilled swordfish and avocado salsa) that supplement the mainly pasta and pizza menu, and Rosemarie opting for linguine carbonara. Her enthusiasm for this dish, and disinclination to order much else, has been a running joke between us and Yola ever since.

Consistency is one of the finest features of La Cucina. Like almost everything that is good in life, it arrived perfectly formed and has required little, if anything, in the way of alteration since. The staff have proved uniformly courteous and helpful, including Yola’s able lieutenant, Melchiorre.

What surrounds the restaurant, however, has been subject to change, including the handy car park situated at the rear.

Actuated, one presumes, by a dislike of cars and a pursuit of hard cash, the city council has permitted its development into flats, with parking spaces reduced from 120 to 37. The effect on trade can be imagined (though not by the money-grabbing local authority).

My visits to the restaurant have generally been on public transport — advisedly so since dinner ends for me with at least one glass of fiery grappa — and it was on the bus that we relied for our transport to the delights of Tuscany.

The meal for this themed event began, as customers gathered, with glasses of Prosecco and a selection of ‘aperitivo Tuscano’ prepared by Alberto and Yola’s Tuscan friend Giovanni Carnebella. These included assorted foccacia, pork crostini, taggiasca olive tapenade, fennel-flavoured finocchiona salami and chick-pea chips.

Having moved to our tables we were first presented by Alberto and his team with a trio of classic antipasti — spinach and ricotta frittata, chicken livers and panzanella (a summery salad of tomato and bread). The evening’s wine suppliers, from Majestic’s Cowley branch, offered an ideal pairing in a zesty product of the Vermentino grape and a cherry-laden red, principally from the Morellino (the local name for Sangiovese), both from the Poggioargentiera estate, in the Tuscan south.

A lemony, slightly waxy Vernaccia from San Gimignano — the famous town of medieval skyscrapers — went a treat with the artichoke risotto that followed.

At main course stage the menu divided between land and sea. I went for caciucco di gamberoni alla Livornese, a fish stew composed principally of large prawns, accompanied by a very food-friendly Pinot Grigio from the famed Banfi estate. Rosemarie had a succulent plateful of roast loin of pork rubbed with fennel and smoothly sauced, which was complemented by another Balfi wine, Brunello di Montalcino 2009, with interesting overtones of chocolate and liquorice.

While she found room for deep-fried doughnuts, with a glass of Vin Santo and crunchy home-made cantucci biscuits for dipping in it, I had to pass on pud. But I did sample a glass of grappa pressed upon me — against no great resistance — by Yola.

Thus ended a wonderful evening which, at £35 a head, constituted brilliant value. Another follows on July 29 (£38 this time) on the food and wine of Puglia.

La Cucina
40 St Clements, Oxford OX4 1AB 
01865 793811
lacucinaoxford.co.uk

Opening times: Daily 11am-10.30pm
Parking: Best on foot/by bus
Key personnel: Owners Yola Drage and Alberto Brunelli
Make sure you try the... changing blackboard specials. Regular menu includes grilled Mediterranean vegetables with pesto dressing (£6.25), salad of crayfish tails, crab and tomato (£6.95), 14 traditional pizzas priced from £6.95 to £9.95, plus range of pizze bianche without tomato sauce and mozarella. Pasta and risotto range includes tagliatelle with courgette, tomato and crayfish tail sauce (£11.95). Grilled salmon, fennel and rocket (£12.95). Puddings of tiramisu (£4.95), cheesecake with candied grapefruit (£4.95) and rustic apple cake with ice cream (£4.95).
In ten words: Classic Italian dishes cooked to order and served with style