148191 Sun Jun 06 14:39:41 -0700 2004 1 12 Boston Area 0 794602 Snagged a late night table for two at Via Matta in pursuit of a light meal. Still packed and buzzing at 10:30p. Generous pour of grass-green, sweet EVOO, with excellent, chewy-crusted Tuscan bread. We ordered just enough food: app of crunchy eggplant, the best version of this I've had yet here; an antipasto Tuscano, very simple plate of a couple of cold cuts (salami, mortadella), a salty hard cheese (ricotta salata, maybe), pickled onions, good oil, olives; a fabulous tagliatelle Bolognese, with obviously fresh pasta. Trio of semifreddi for dessert (chocolate, banana, and pistachio, all lovely), and biscotti. Very good service (not slacking off even at the tail end of the night), a loud, loud room (with a beat-heavy downtempo soundtrack). My only complaint is that the wine prices have gone steadily up to the point of absurdity, only a bottle or two under about $45, not right at all. I found a Barbera D'Asti for $28 (really too young at first blush, but it seemed to improve in the glass). That brought the bill with tax to $90. That kind of gouging always annoys me, since this kind of food really calls for wine, just not necessarily the kind that retails for $40 (and shows up here for $95). I'd go back a lot more often if they fixed this small but crucial detail. Sun Jun 06 14:39:41 -0700 2004 0 MC Slim JB 1 794608 Hubby and I had dinner at Via Matta last night too, with the same appetizers! Both were delicious. For some reason (perhaps because we booked through Open Table), we were treated to some warm crostini and a dishful of homemade ricotta cheese spread, served a few minutes after we got our bread. Very tasty! I had the Pollo al Mattone ("Chicken under a brick"). I can't rave enough about this dish - the skin was perfectly crispy and the meat juicy and tender. I've had this recently at Caffe Umbra, which was good, but can't compare to VM's. My husband had the sea bass with spicy escarole, which he quite enjoyed. We had a bottle of Castello di Buttrilo, chosen with the assistance of the sommelier, as our knowledge of Italian wines is not the best. For dessert, I had a chocolate torte, hubby had the mocha tiramisu. He also had a glass of dessert wine, which our server mistakenly entered into the computer as a bottle - we noticed this when we were looking at the final bill. He was very apologetic when we pointed out his mistake and fixed the error quickly. Service was first rate. We wanted for nothing - even our water glasses were filled if they became a quarter empty. This was only our second time at VM. On our first visit (last February) we really enjoyed the food and service, but at the end of our meal it took our server 20 minutes to bring us our check, and that was only after asking an assistant to hunt it down for us. No such problems last night. We will definitely be back! Sun Jun 06 16:59:19 -0700 2004 794602 0 thecleave