Tavernetta — known for its fresh-made pastas and Italian wine list — is headed west this winter, opening a second restaurant inside the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Vail in time for the holiday season. Tavernetta Vail will take over the space occupied by Flame Restaurant, a steakhouse that shut down earlier this summer to make room for the multimillion-dollar renovation. While the menu details haven’t yet been hammered out, Tavernetta Vail will have breakfast service, a first for the concept.
The dinner menu will travel around Italy with its pastas, gnocchis and Tavernetta classics, as well as some dishes with mountain touches inspired by the country’s alpine regions that will feel at home in Colorado’s high country. Like the original, Tavernetta Vail also will have an entirely Italian wine list, with the exception of Champagne — because “Italians drink more Champagne than anybody,” said master sommelier Bobby Stuckey, the co-founder of Frasca Hospitality Group, which Tavernetta falls under. Italian-driven spirits and digestifs will join the menu, too.
Last August, Michelin inspectors praised Tavernetta, placing it on the first edition of its Bib Gourmand list that recognizes restaurants where diners can indulge in a high-quality meal that also is considered a good value. “The Italian menu nods to more well-known dishes from multiple regions, and the plates are refreshingly uncluttered,” the famously anonymous inspectors said. Tavernetta’s sister r.