Pan-seared sea scallops served over fresh ripe tomato & buffalo mozzarella salad with a balsamic reduction.

(photo: Matthew Holota)

With reconstruction of the stretch of Main Street cruising past the University at Buffalo’s Main Street Campus hopefully ending in the near future, I’d like to make a not-so-modest proposal.

Let’s turn Main Street in the area between the LaSalle NFTA station and Niagara Falls Boulevard into a vibrant restaurant/shopping district. We’re not thinking small here. Maybe M Street in Georgetown is beyond our reach, but let’s go for the gold.

Penne pasta with artichokes, zucchini, pancetta & shrimp with fresh herbs.

(photo: Matthew Holota)

With support from all of those folks who say they want to boost the University Heights neighborhood and by tapping into the vision of the faculty and students in the neighborhood’s UB School of Architecture and Planning, it can happen.

The current bumpy ride on Main Street aside, we’ve got a pretty decent start with an eclectic mix of shops, pizza joints and restaurants. And with the State Liquor Authority closing down a couple bars in recent months and those properties possibly entering the real-estate market, it’s prime time to change the character of this several-block stretch.

Rob and Samantha Ryan have taken a big step in the right direction. The Ryans have rescued the building that formerly housed the late Blu Bistro at 3112 Main Street at Highgate Avenue and in January opened an upscale cocktail lounge, Vino Lounge, and its handsome conjoined twin, Vado Pazzo, a restaurant serving “contemporary Italian cuisine.”

The Ryans know what they are doing; they are half of the partnership that turned the sleepy Amiralle’s Little Talia Trattoria on Hertel Avenue into the trendy North End Trattoria. Now they are on their own, with a larger space allowing them to stretch their imaginations and ambitions. Jason Hedge oversees the kitchen. The food is very good. Prices are very reasonable.

Rob Ryan’s enthusiasm is contagious. There’s not a crocus bloom in sight and Rob, who previously managed Soho on Chippewa Street, already is talking about al fresco dining on Main Street under a new canvas awning and in the courtyard entrance to the restaurant, which in one of its prior lifetimes was called Osaka.

We visited Vado Pazzo, which means “I go crazy” in Italian and is a play on Rob’s childhood nickname, last Friday. Valet curb-side parking was a welcome surprise, and we entered through the Vino Lounge, which is open until the wee hours and has its own menu. With its three French doors facing Main Street, the dining space at Vado Pazzo is very appealing.

We were among the evening’s first diners and didn’t hesitate to ask our affable server, Justin, to crank the lights up a notch or two so that we could read the menu.

We began our meal with two very good appetizers. I enjoyed the pan-seared sea scallops—three large, perfectly prepared mollusks served over slices of fresh ripe tomato and buffalo mozzarella cheese with a balsamic reduction ($9). The guest opted for an evening special: three veal meatballs topped with tomato sauce and served with ricotta cheese ($9). The hefty meatballs were excellent, just like my Aunt Stella used to make.

Also available as openers were a cup of wild leek and potato soup ($4) or tomato soup with grilled vegetables ($4). There also was prosciutto-wrapped melon drizzled with roasted-garlic infused olive oil ($8), cubenella peppers stuffed with mixed Italian cheeses, roasted garlic and seasoned breadcrumbs ($7) and frutti di mare—a combination of calamari, shrimp and baby scallops lightly poached and drizzled with a citrus vinaigrette ($12).

That subtle citrus vinaigrette was a big hit on the salad of baby spinach, grapefruit sections and fennel ($6) that was enjoyed by the guest. My Caesar salad featured chopped romaine spears and pancetta served with a creamy Caesar dressing and topped with shaved Reggiano Parmigiano cheese ($6). Also on the menu is the Vada insalada ($4), featuring mesclun, tomato, cucumber, garbanzo beans and red onion with a garlic/rosemary vinaigrette ($4).

Aunt Stella’s meatballs were calling to me, so I had no choice but to choose as my entrée the Vado pasta—whole wheat spaghetti topped with the house tomato sauce and accompanied by three of the tasty spheres ($13). Other pasta selections included tortellini stuffed with Italian sausage and shitake mushrooms in a truffle thyme sauce ($12), gnocchi with cherry tomatoes, banana peppers and fresh mozzarella cheese in a white wine sauce ($12), seafood risotto with scallops, shrimp and mussels topped with ahi tuna ceviche ($22) and a vegetarian choice: summer squash, zucchini, bell peppers and fried eggplant finished with shaved Reggiano Parmigiano cheese ($13).

The guest really liked his dinner selection, an evening special that featured a large serving of pan-seared escolar (a type of mackerel) with three grilled shrimp on a skewer of fresh rosemary served with linguine in a lemon/butter cream sauce ($24). Other specials were grilled chicken and vegetables over penne pasta with a sun-dried tomato pesto ($18) and twin pork chops with caramelized apples and mashed sweet potatoes ($20).

Selections on the regular menu include grilled rack of lamb finished with a blackberry au jus and grilled polenta ($28), twin tenderloin medallions with a wild mushroom ragout and mashed sweet potatoes ($25), roasted-garlic braised veal shanks (osso buco) with mashed potatoes and caramelized onions ($22) and pan-seared salmon over sweet-pea risotto drizzled with basil pesto ($18).

There were only two dessert selections, but with the two offered—cassata cake and layered peanut-butter cake from Romeo and Juliet’s on Hertel Avenue—we couldn’t go wrong. In fact, a foursome at an adjoining table who spotted our desserts ordered slices of the cakes reserved for them before they even ordered dinner.

Seating at Vado Pazzo is limited to 40, with room for 20 more in the lounge, so be sure to make recommendations. Vino Lounge, which has its own after-hours menu, is open from 5pm to midnight Tuesday through Thursday and 5pm to 2am Friday and Saturday.

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