Dear Lucy and Hatem,

As usual, we had another great meal at your restaurant tonight.  Your Italian food is some of the best we’ve had, and that’s saying something when you know that we lived in New York City for years and have travelled a lot throughout Italy.

Enclosed is the picture taken of our son Tim’s and daughter-in-law Betsy’s Rehearsal Dinner in Aug 2010 celebrated at your restaurant.  As you can tell from the happy faces all around,  we had just finished enjoying “great Italian” with your wonderful staff family!

Always a pleasure dining with you….

Jill and Tom Brown

“There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.”
Thomas Aquinas

Vitello’s Ristorante Italiano has been in Catalina for 8 years located at 15930 N. Oracle Road, Suite 178. The restaurant has had a lock on the top spot in the “Tucson’s Favorites” ranking of the Citizen’s online restaurant guide for several months.

Specializing in Italian cuisine Hatem Rdid, who owns Vitello’s with his wife, hail from Palermo on the island of Sicily. Vitello’s has a very family-friendly feel. The kitchen bustles like a family preparing a holiday meal for relatives. You’d barely pull up your chairs when the waiter will set down a large plate of complimentary bruschetta. Their menu, which includes pizza, calzone and panini, paints a broad brush of Italian cuisine, with a variation of vegetarian options including Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, Funghi and Peperoncino. How could this little-known Catalina eatery really rate with all the lofty, lauded dining options this town has?

Try their Fried Calamari, a mix of baby squid and small but longish halos of larger squid thinly battered in a delicate breading. Equally as good is one of their starters, the Toasted Cheese Ravioli, stuffed with just the right amount of ricotta cheese and toasted to a golden brown. The Vitello Mezzaluna is wonderfully unique, a sweet yet piquant meld of breaded veal medallions and prosciutto in a dastardly rich, vodka-laced, creamy tomato sauce. Fradivola del Mare, shrimp and scallops in a spicy tomato sauce with linguini. This is not just marinara with some added heat. It had its own complex identity, one that played well off the subtle, soft scallops and linguini. As for the shrimp, they are infused with the flavors of wine and garlic. Vitello’s Tiramisu simple, homemade, exceedingly rich but not overly sweet dessert is to die for! The lady fingers are dipped just long enough in the espresso, and the marscapone in the filling is expertly balanced to the sugar. Other desserts include Cannoli, Mudpie, Spumone, Chocolate Mousse and Fried Ice Cream. All the food is fresh and made to order. They offer also many catering options: pickup, delivery or full service, serving SaddleBrooke, Rancho Vistoso, Catalina and part of Oro Valley. One visit will leave you coming away from Vitello’s staggered by its artistry for balanced flavors and textures and spot-on execution.

If this has left you wanting a great meal deal or you have any questions please give us a call: 520-825-0140 or visit us at: www.vitellosonline.com.

We will have you shouting Hoopla! for more.

RITA CONNELLY

Published : January 13, 2011 in Tucson Weekly

Catalina isn’t exactly known as a culinary wonderland. Not that long ago, choices were limited to fast-food places, a steakhouse and a tiny, albeit cozy, café.

But things are changing. These days, in one small strip mall alone, you can enjoy Mexican, Greek or Italian food. You’ve come a long way, Catalina!

Vitello’s is the Italian spot. It’s a charming mom-and-pop joint (indeed, mom, pop and two kids were there on both of our visits) that offers a full array of Italian dishes. And based both on what we sampled and the steady stream of diners—mostly older couples from the nearby retirement community—it seems that the folks at Vitello’s know what they’re doing.

There are two rooms that are divided into several seating areas by half-walls topped with wooden lattice, helping to create a cozy, intimate atmosphere. The walls have maps of Italy, posters of Italy and paintings of Italy. A white board with the evening’s specials sits near the door; Italian pop tunes play quietly in the background. The only TV we saw was a tiny portable set that sat unobtrusively (and precariously) on a display case.

To kick off one meal, we ordered the calamari fritti ($7). Vitello’s version was lightly breaded, perfectly tender and served with a tasty marinara sauce for dipping. Both rings and tentacles are part of this dish.

A basket of house-made bread comes with every meal. It’s dense and perfect for sopping up all sorts of sauces. All entrées come with either soup or salad; veal entrées also come with the option of the daily vegetables.

We went with the salad with the house Italian dressing. The salad was pretty typical, with lettuce, spinach, cabbage, tomatoes and the like; it was nothing to write home about. But the Vitello mezzaluna ($17) was fantastic. Practically paper-thin slices of veal in a flavorful breading had been sautéed with slices of prosciutto and were then covered in a bright, creamy vodka-cream sauce. The veal was so tender and thin that we didn’t need a knife. The prosciutto added a pleasant saltiness, and the vodka sauce was piquant and creamy. So many flavors and textures—but it all worked quite well. The dish came with a side of spaghetti with the house marinara, which provided a nice balance to all that richness in the entrée.

The menu is full of tempting pasta choices, but when there’s gnocchi ($11) on the menu, that’s the way to go. These pasta dumplings made from potatoes are often heavy and sticky, but not so here. These were light and fluffy, and the creamy tomato gorgonzola sauce was luscious. The cheese added a wonderful tang and richness; I woke up the next morning wanting more.

The side here was pasta e fagioli (pasta and bean soup). It was a little disappointing; the broth tasted too much like tomato soup, and it could’ve used more beans. But it did have oodles of ditali (little tubes) pasta, which was a nice touch.

We ordered the cannoli ($4.50) for dessert to go … and forgot to bring it with us. Oops.

Since pizza plays a big part on the menu at Vitello’s (we noticed numerous customers popping in to get pizza to go), we ordered the 12-inch Catalina ($11). Atop a rustic crust were homemade sausage, pepperoni, red onions, black olives, green peppers and mushrooms, as well as the requisite sauce and gooey cheese. The pie was as tasty as it was colorful.

The linguini alle vongole ($12) came with a choice of white or red sauce; I decided on the white. The linguini was topped with a mountain of sweet, tender clams and a healthy portion of garlic. The sauce—or, better yet, the broth—was a tad thin, but still held that lovely kiss of the sea that makes this dish so darned good. I dunked some of that yummy bread in the leftover broth. Ah, now that was a real treat!

Service on both visits was friendly and efficient, if not exactly polished.

The wine list is prominently midrange Italian—there must be at least a half-dozen Chiantis—but we didn’t order wine on either visit, because driving a long way after a glass of wine or two is not a good idea.

We ordered the cannoli again. They were small but exactly what cannoli should be: rich, creamy, slightly tangy and most pleasing.

My schedule didn’t allow me to sample the lunch menu, so we missed the panini (ranging from $6.75 to $7.95). Other sandwiches ($7 or $8) are also available, as is pizza by the slice and other offerings.

Vitello’s is a charming little spot with a pleasant cozy atmosphere and some fine Italian chow. While Vitello’s is not just down the street for most Tucson Weekly readers, it is definitely worth a visit.

Vitello’s impressed us.

As we finished our first visit to the Italian restaurant in Catalina at 8:45 one recent weeknight, we noticed that the front door listed its closing hours as 8 p.m., not 9 p.m. like we had thought.

Oops. Many servers would have dropped the check at our table by 8 p.m., if not earlier.

A few more exaggeratedly polite queries if we needed anything would have followed, leading to relentless pacing by our table.

Not at Vitello’s. Even though our earnest server looked young enough to be in high school, pleasing us appeared to be his only priority.

Vitello’s, at 15930 N. Oracle Road, is quite a hike from central Tucson, but it’s a drive worth taking for reasonably priced, good Sicilian and Northern Italian fare and that friendly, appreciative service.

Owner Hatem Rdid and his wife, Lucy Palazzolo, bought Vitello’s six years ago. The restaurant had opened in 2003, and Rdid worked there as its sous chef for a year before buying it.

Rdid was born in Tunisia and grew up in Sicily, where he learned to cook – and met Palazzolo. They moved to Catalina because Palazzolo has relatives there.

On our first visit, we started with Zuppa Di Cozze ($8), a heaping portion of mussels in a tomato (or white) sauce. The plump mussels had a nice consistency, and the red sauce was savory enough to drink.

Vitello’s, which means “veal” in Italian, features several of its namesake. The vitello mezzaluna ($17) was 7 ounces of lightly coated veal, thinly pounded. It was sautéed with prosciutto in a creamy vodka tomato sauce and topped with parmesan. Delightful and filling.

Entrees come with a choice of soup, dinner salad, Caesar salad, and for non-pasta dishes, spaghetti marinara or vegetables.

Lasagna is a good litmus test for the quality of an Italian restaurant, and Vitello’s version did not disappoint. The oversized slab of lasagna ($12) arrived hot and cheesy with layers of rich mozzarella, ricotta and béchemal sauce covered by a tomato-ey ground beef sauce. Leftovers the next day were just as tasty.

Rdid said the restaurant’s most popular entree is the chicken or veal Pinocchio ($14, $18).

It’s easy to see why. An impressive platter of the chicken version arrived covered in bubbling gorgonzola and cream sauce. Mushroom slices, asparagus spears and bits of spinach surrounded the chicken breasts.

It was hard not to feel guilty eating the decadent entree, but it was harder not to finish it.

We’re glad we didn’t ignore Vitello’s pizzas. The small Catalina ($11) possessed all the textures and flavors a good pizza should have – crunchy, salty, gooey, earthy and savory.

The pizza was liberally sprinkled with pepperoni, mushrooms, bell peppers, olives, onions, sausage and tomatoes. At eight slices, the small didn’t seem so small and held us over for days.

The house-made tiramisu ($6) was a blissful concoction of pillowy layers of ladyfingers and mascarpone cheese made with coffee liqueur by Palazzolo.

As for drinks, customers like the Italian margarita ($5), which is a traditional margarita with a splash of amaretto.

Larger parties can enjoy a 3-liter bottle of Toscana Crognolo wine for $65. Traditional bottles of Italian and California wines cost $22 to $32.

For non-wine drinkers, there’s an interesting assortment of domestic and imported beers ($3-$3.75) and the Italian lemon liqueur Limoncello ($4.75).

Restaurant review

• What: Vitello’s, 15930 N. Oracle Road, 825-0140
• Hours: 5-8 p.m. Mondays; 11-8 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays; 11-9 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sundays.
• Family call: Bring the kids – all of ‘em.
• Noise level: Nice and quiet.
• Vegetarian options: Many.
• Dress: Casual.
• Reservations: Yes.
• Price range: Entrees range from the $8 spaghetti marinara to the $20 Cioppino Tutto Mare, a blend of mussels, clams, shrimp and scallops over linguini.
• Wine list: An assortment of mostly Italian and some California wines range from $22 to $32 a bottle.
• Etc.: Once a month, Vitello’s holds free wine tastings. The next one is from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday and will feature eight to 10 wines.
• The restaurant will celebrate its seventh anniversary from 5 to 9 p.m. Jan. 27. The party is free and will include a wine tasting and a $200 Vitello’s gift certificate giveaway.