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Da Vinci

162 Columbus Ave.
Boston, MA 02116

Phone: 617-350-0007

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Text listing to mobile

Email: info@davinciboston.com

Website: http://www.davinciboston.com

162 Columbus Ave.
Boston, MA 02116

Phone: 617-350-0007

|

Text listing to mobile

This well-meaning, scrubbed-up restaurant opened recently on Columbus Avenue next to the Castle, in a big space that has been host to several failures (Piattini, Grillfish). You'll want to pull for the team at Da Vinci when you receive the warm greeting of Wioletta Zywina, the Polish-born first-time restaurateur, and watch a smiling Shingara Singh (a.k.a. Chef Peppino), the Indian-born chef and co-owner, circulate among all the tables, thanking every diner for coming. The truth is, Da Vinci makes very good food for the suburbs (there, we said it). Like so much food in successful fancy restaurants outside the city, it's pretty, a little wan, and ultimately unmemorable. Singh's menu is more individualistic than that of any of his neighbors, and certainly more handmade. Nobody next door or down the street is visibly fussing over your plate in the kitchen, or anxiously circulating to see that you really like what you ordered and offering to make it again if you don't. The main courses are the most successful, particularly a terrific duck dish two ways ($26), offering an herb-and-garlic-marinated breast that tastes like tender steak, and a soft but not mushy confited duck leg, less greasy and stringy than most local versions. The broccoli rabe sautéed with olive oil and garlic makes a perfect match, and if the sweet-and-sour poached cipollini and pear are a touch too much, the dish is still one we could eat often.