Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Chris Vizas is the general manager of Saratoga's popular Viaggio Ristorante Mediterraneo. The restaurant plans to market sauces.
Viaggio takes diners on a Mediterranean taste tour
By Suzanne Cristallo
Viaggio is a Mediterranean voyage. In Saratoga, it is a restaurant offering a culinary trip through Greece, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Italy while diners sit comfortably among Grecian columns. Located at the southeastern end of Big Basin Way, the eatery owned by Karen Grellas--who also owns a travel consulting firm--manages a dramatic impression with its white-and-gold decor. And in December, it will imprint a new food line.
"We're going to start out small," says general manager Chris Vizas, whose brainchild the new line is. He says about 500 jars of three house sauces and a kalamata olive tapenade, which is generally used as a condiment, will be available first in the restaurant, and in the near future in high-end food outlets like Williams Sonoma and Neiman Marcus.
The sauces created by executive chef A.J. Szenda include an almond/tomato-base Romesco sauce, usually served with prawns, and a roasted pepper couli used with seafood.
"We were serving the tapenade to guests with bread as soon as they would sit down," notes Vizas. It went over so well that guests were toting containers on return visits so they might take some home. "How do you charge for something like that?" he says with a chuckle. "So we decided to sell it."
Vizas launched a successful food line for LuLu's when he managed the popular restaurant in San Francisco several years back. It eventually became "huge" in kitchen stores, he says.
Meanwhile, Viaggio guests still enjoy the condiment and sauces in their native habitat. The Gambas Romesco (oak-grilled prawns, $19.95) is a good showcase for the Romesco sauce--a puree of almonds, roasted peppers and roasted tomatoes. As an appetizer called simply Gambas, the prawns are grilled on a rosemary skewer with garlic, and the roasted pepper sauce is mixed with the coulis, or juices from the cooking prawns.
Since Vizas, 34, took over as general manager a year ago, business at Viaggio's has increased as much as 30 percent, a major portion in corporate dinners and wedding banquets. The restaurant has two large private rooms and has been known to turn over the main dining hall to private parties. French wine has been added to the list, and in the next few weeks, the impressive columns surrounding the main dining area will be painted to resemble carved stone.
Previously, Vizas, who started his culinary career at 17 in his native Maryland with Dunkin' Donuts, progressed in various after-school restaurant jobs while he studied at San Francisco State University to be a teacher. Teaching was left by the wayside when he discovered the excitement of "the front of the house." Among his management credits are LuLu's, the hotel chain that eventually took him to Thailand, where he met his future wife; and the opening of Palo Alto's Zibibbo's. In 1996, he was managing the Rose Pistola in San Francisco when it was voted the best restaurant in the nation. His newest credit is 5-month-old son Isaac.
Viaggio, 14550 Big Basin Way, Saratoga. Open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; dinner Tuesday through Sunday, 5-10 p.m.; Sunday champagne a la carte brunch, 11 a.m.2:30 p.m. 408.741.5300.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
