Cuisine:

• Italian
• Others

Alta Strada Description:
Italian cuisine in Wellesley Center by Chef Michael Schlow of Boston's Radius, Via Matta, and Great Bay.
Besides street parking, there is a public lot behind the restaurant.
Though the name translates as "high road," the bare brick walls, bare wood floors and bare tables defining power player Michael Schlow's solo venture in Wellesley say "casual route"---and the Italian menu follows, favoring smaller over larger, lighter over heavier piatti. Indeed, we love the proliferation of veggies in myriad lusty forms---an obvious sign of Schlow's deep familiarity with the Boot's seasonal, regional treatment of the earth's bounty, and the extent to which he's imparted that knowledge to chef Luis Morales, who transferred here from the kitchen at Via Matta. Not to be missed are choose-your-own antipasto platters, authentically simple and veggie-strong---mix and match olive oil–touched homemade ricotta, house-pickled giardiniera and marinated olives scented with orange, rosemary and mustard. Interestingly, however, the whole is rather greater than the sum of its parts; we've yet to find a wow-worthy signature like Via Matta's crunchy eggplant or porchetta tonnata. With the exception of salads, meanwhile, the rest of the menu, though solidly executed, is so classic as to border on boring---cheese ravioli in tomato sauce and roast chicken do not a destination make. In short, admirable as simplicity is, we're not convinced we've any need to leave the city for our Schlow fix; if his objective here was to create a neighborhood place, he's succeeded for better or worse.


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