By Michelle Sieling

Cioccolata Di Vino

Though I can be accused of being a little bit San Francisco-centric, I do leave the 7x7 bubble that I live in and explore the other cities of the Bay Area. A new restaurant to try out in an easy to reach location is one of those reasons. Lucky for me, Ciccolata Di Vino on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley’s gourmet ghetto is only three blocks from the Downtown Berkeley BART station.

First, let me set your expectations.  There is wine.  There is chocolate (cake). But there isn’t so much of either that I think Cioccolata Di Vino is an apt name. There are a couple dozen varieties of wine by the taste, glass, flight or bottle, in addition to a handful of chocolate desserts. Also, there is antipasti, like bruschetta, soup and pasta, too.

Getting that out of the way, there are a couple of dining holes that Ciccolata Di Vino does fill, though. First, when you get out to eat in the Bay Area, you often are either eating a quick fast food item, like a burger or a taco, or you’re having a more formal meal at a nice restaurant.  But at neither place, do you feel like you can take your time to savor your experience, much as you might when dining in a European city.  At lower end restaurants, you’re dining and dashing since there usually isn’t any ambiance to sit around and experience.

At higher end restaurants, you feel like the server is hovering over you to make sure you finish your meal in time so they can turn over the table. 

In fact, there just aren’t too many cafes around here where you can savor a small meal and a glass of wine.  Fortunately Ciccolata Di Vino is the kind of space where if you are alone with a good book and taking your time while having a glass of wine, no one will look at you funny.

So, I picked a couple of good friends to share a relaxed Sunday evening meal. Our trio tucked into a cozy nook in the back of the restaurant where we could watch the comings and goings of the one waitress and a handful of patrons.  Depending on where you sit, you can watch the chef and owner Rebecca Bernstein at work.  Often she stops to chat with the patrons and check on their meals. 

To drink, we had our choice of mainly Italian wines such as Prosecco ($9.50 a glass/$36.00 a bottle), Insolia Principe di Butera ($8.00 a glass/$32.50 a bottle) or a Marzemino Terre di Gioia ($4.00 a taste/$8.00 a glass/$30.50 a bottle), but we ended up with a domestic Rhone de Robles Robert Hall Central Coast 2006 ($45 a bottle). Go figure.

As you may have correctly assumed, the food is Italian-inspired as well. The savory food is all presented as shared plates. We made our way through a good portion of the menu.  We tried the cured meat plate of Bresaola, Prosciutto di Parma, Salame Finocchiona served with sweet cherry peppers, green Cerignola olives, dried Black Mission figs and roasted fennel ($13.95); eggplant pizza ($7.95); a Cannellini en Cazuela with rosemary and garlic ($5.95); a cheese plate of Crescenza, Pecorino Brillo, Cambozola with figs, apricots in liqueur, herbed almonds, chestnut honey, and quince paste ($13.50); and a bruschetta of goat cheese with spicy tomato ($6.95). Both the cannellini and the bruschetta came with toasted house made Ciabatta bread, which was perfectly crispy.

Of the all the plates, there were two standouts: the cheese plate with the complimentary sweet elements to cut through the fat and balance the strength of the cheese, and the bruschetta with goat cheese and spicy tomato. The bruschetta was a surprise as I didn’t expect the spicy tomato paste to pair well with the tang of the goat cheese, but it did. Though the cannellini was savory, it suffered from the common issue that happens with that dish, which is that the beans were just a little too al dente.

Strangely you think we’d be full, but no, we went for the dessert. We split a Torta al Cioccolato Liquefatto, which is a warm, luscious molten lava cake topped with fresh whipped cream ($6.95).  It’s made to order, so keep that in mind if you do need to get somewhere. We finished off the evening with a glass of 2006 Robert Hall Orange Muscat from Paso Robles ($6.00).

As far as service, we had no complaints. Our server was friendly and knowledgeable and the plates were timed well enough apart that we didn’t have to wait long.

As I live in the city, I’m not sure I would make the trek just to go to the restaurant, but if I was in the area I would stop by.  And if I lived in the neighborhood, I’d definitely make it a regular haunt.  Too bad it didn’t exist when I was in college there. I would have probably had many meals at Cioccolata Di Vino.

Cioccolata Di Vino is located at 1801 Shattuck Ave., Suite C, in Berkeley, CA. For more information and reservations, call (510) 898-1392 or visit  www.cioccolatadivino.com.

They are open Tuesday through Thursday: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday: 3 to 9 p.m. and are closed on Monday.