Virtuoso
272 Worthington St., Springfield,
413-734-1099
Mon.-Fri. 4:30-10 p.m.
Sat.-Sun. 4:30-midnight
Entrées $18 to $40.
Chef Kevin Cousin is a Northampton boy. It was at the elegant ‘80s eatery Beardsley’s that he got a taste of the good life while working as a busboy. “I was 19 years old, drinking Tattingers, eating white asparagus, caviar—that’s when I knew I wanted to be in this business,” says the young owner of Virtuoso, a restaurant in Springfield that’s been on the scene for over a year. “That’s what got me here.”
“Here” is a silver-lined slice of Worthington Street, a neighborhood where there’s been enough unpleasantness lately that Cousin bravely defends his turf. “People who come here for dinner don’t have to worry,” he says. “The newspapers just play that stuff up. It’s the gangs that are fighting… they don’t care about restaurants.” Valet parking is available.
Virtuoso is doing everything in its power to get people to downtown Springfield. A $5 tapas menu featured from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. captures the after work-crowd, a high end menu is offered for the well-heeled, and after dinner on the weekends, the lighting pulsates behind silver beaded curtains and people come to dance. The formula is simple; relax them, feed them and relax them some more and then, if they won’t leave, exhaust them.
With training at Cordon Bleu and Harvest, a Cambridge restaurant, Cousin’s food is far from simple. Starters at Virtuoso include pan-fried lump meat crab cakes with charred corn salsa, chipotle aioli and mango drizzle as well as a foie gras au torchon with a cider reduction. In the main course dishes, things escalate to seared-roasted filet mignon or crispy-seared duck breast with a blackberry ginger garlic sauce as main course selections.
We went on a Friday night when the place was half empty. We sat in a curtained alcove with a platinum “V” hanging on the wall over the table, where an Indian flat bread was waiting for us with garlicky hummus. Somebody ordered a round of cocktails and somebody else ordered the crab cakes, which turned out to be excellent, due to the sweet crunch of the slightly burned corn kernels—a treat this time of year. Another person ordered the poached pear salad. This dish, a Bosc pear filled with blue cheese and candied walnuts as well as bitter greens in a port reduction, was an avalanche of sensation, almost too much for the taste buds.
Other dishes ordered included Caesar salad, an excellent rendition with fresh ingredients—not just any old parmesan but shaved grana padano cheese, and not just any old croutons but smoked paprika-garlic croutons. Less well executed was the whole-wheat wild mushroom ravioli; the pasta was tough and suffocated the mushrooms inside.
On a weeknight we went back. It was not so busy, but the food was just as good if not better. I ordered the catch of the day, sesame and black pepper-encrusted salmon on a bed of bok choy. Although the grind on the pepper was not quite fine enough, that was my only reservation for this excellent salmon dish. The languorous slab of pink flesh, presented next to an offering of sticky rice in the shape of a pyramid, represented the most classic of pairings. My close friend and connoisseur of all things culinary pronounced his Nicoise salad of rare tuna, greens, haricots verts and anchovies perfect, or at least quite good.
Just as flawless is the restaurant’s interior, which is rather like a bachelor pad whose owner really knows how to party, with six giant TVs, slick metal surfaces and lights that undulate. Cousin’s business partner Paul Ramesh, who owns the Shadow Lounge next door, worked with Cousins to choose elements of the décor such as low-slung leather bar stools from Italy, a brushed aluminum bar, and back-lit silver scale wall coverings that make up the interior of Virtuoso, the latest entry in the brave new world of dining on Worthington Street.•
