Italian hospitality and Rocky Mountain flair at Vail’s Tavernetta

Just as a community’s local tavern is many things to many people, so, too, is Tavernetta Vail an expansive concept that extends beyond the “restaurant” category. Tapping into the ideal of Italian hospitality, Tavernetta Vail is a welcoming space no matter how you want to experience it: breakfast, brunch, Après-Tivo, dinner, even a “Spritz Window.” And there is plenty of conversation and congeniality — plus the requisite fire pits — along the way. 

Created by the Michelin-recognized Frasca Hospitality Group, Tavernetta Vail is an exploration of regional Italian cuisine with special focus on the alpine areas, a nod to Vail’s locale and spirit. House-made pastas, wild game, risottos, seafood and other delights fill the menu, which is a celebration of both Italian and Rocky Mountain ingredients. Chef de Cuisine Ethan Diamant came to Tavernetta Vail by way of Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, which prepared him for the restaurant’s Northern Italian emphasis — but his sense of creative alchemy is all his own. 

You can see his playful nature in dishes such as the quaglia, or quail. 

“In Northern Italy when we talk about alpine cooking, it’s a lot of game meat,” explained the chef.  “So with the quaglia, we take a fully deboned quail and stuff it with an alpine sausage —  a really nice, light, airy sausage. We roulade it into a tube of sorts, with some horseradish and celery puree, and serve it with red beets and poppyseeds.”

Diamant’s dishes are intricate but not fussy. Prone to creative bursts late at night, he emails himself ideas for components that inevitably find their way to the plate. 

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“We’re constantly trying to elevate our menu and set ourselves apart from other restaurants in the Vail Valley,” he said. 

Some of the dishes are as much about sourcing as they are the preparations, such as the seafood risotto. Prepared with Acquerello rice, a premium aged carnaroli variety grown in Piedmont’s Po Valley, the rice is aged for at least one year to enhance its flavor and texture, then re-enriched with its own germ for added richness and stability. They finish the risotto with a luscious uni emulsion and brown-butter-poached red crab. 

At Tavernetta Vail, the beverage program is part and parcel of the overall experience. 

“The wine, the food — it’s two parts to the whole, it’s not one or another,” said Lead Sommelier Rylan Bonaccorsi. “We like to say we try and emulate the Italian way of being. So there is no meal without a bottle of wine on the table or a strong espresso at the end of it.”

Just as the food tours Italy, so, too, does the wine list. Bonaccorsi has helped create an almost-exclusively Italian wine list — a special exception being made for French champagne.

“It allows us the freedom to explore Italy in greater depth,” he said. “That’s not to say that we have every varietal on the list, but we look at Italy more holistically.”

And that includes not just wine, but spritzes, cocktails and an Amaro program worth exploring. 

“Amaro is another uniquely Italian spirit, and it just defies general categorization,” he said with a smile in his voice. 

In addition to daily breakfast, Tavernetta Vail offers a special Sunday brunch. Staying true to the Italian spirit, choose from items such as Uova al Purgatorio (eggs in purgatory) with a spicy, garlicky tomato sauce and pizzelle a la tiramisu, a sweet waffle made from yeast-leavened brioche-like dough. A roving mimosa cart brings a touch of the Four Seasons elegance — and everything’s better with bubbles.