Chef Tim Grandinetti (Photo courtesy of chefgrandinetti.com)

Super Chef Extraordinaire, Tim Grandinetti, is at it again. And, again, he’s got a gem on his hands.  Grandinetti, who is chef/partner of one of the Triad’s premier restaurants, Spring House Restaurant, Kitchen and Bar, hosted a few handfuls of friends, family and VIPs to celebrate his new venture: Quanto Basta.

Quanto Basta takes it home to momma’s Italian cooking, with traditional Italian dishes, pizzettes (smaller-sized pizzas) and a long list of meat and cheeses, just to name a few things.  It’s located in the now-booming 4th & Broad/Spring area where a lot of construction and a lot of awesomeness is popping up.

Cheeses at Quanto Bosta

The new eatery is located at 680 W. Fourth St and is only a block away from Spring House Restaurant, separated only by the new 751 W Fourth building that houses the Winston-Salem Foundation.  Quanto Basta is housed in a magnificently re-imagined setting with stone and wood and a wondefully stained floor that shines for days and creates the great ambiance that will only help make this restaurant great.  I say only help because what is going to make this restaurant great is the food.

For the VIP party they had much of the fare on showcase including at least 3 different pizzettes, an Italian sausage with peppers and onions pasta, eggplant parmesan and a delightful meatball slider.  Tuscan ham, soppressata, capicola and mortadella were on the meat display as fresh mozzarella, pecorino, parmigiano and a most delicious gorgonzola bleu was on the cheese plates.  Crostini and olives round out the antipasto selections.  I tasted almost every bit of the food and thought it was spectaculicious!  They had desserts, which I’ll admit, I am not sure what they were. I asked about other things but missed that.  I’m a horrible reporter, I know.

The Salumi Selection

The kitchen staff are well-knowledgeable and were there to please.  The servers and bar staff were also on point and if our glasses were empty, they brought more of what we needed.  They had a white, a red and Peroni for the beer drinkers.  Tim told me that they’ll have in addition to Peroni, Moretti and the full line of Samuel Smith brews from England as well as other international beers. I’m excited about that.  Also, a fixture that will wow a lot of customers is the wine tower. Nestled in a stone facade, this enormous structure will eventually hold up to 1600 bottles of wine.  Quanto Basta will also have craft cocktails.

Pizzettes

Another great point about Quanto Basta is that while it gives you an upscale elegance, it’s more down-to-earth in pricing.  That was a very pleasant surprise.  $5 spaghetti, $11 sausage with peppers and onions, $14 fire roasted chicken, $14 chicken marsala, $15 shrimp arrabiata.  These are very reasonable and affordable prices.  In fact, the most expensive entree is the beef short ribs barbaresco at $17.

I went to the restroom and even it was in pristine condition. Granted, yes, this is a brand new facility from the inside out, but it’s well thought out.  The details in which they put into the bathrooms, the bar, the kitchen, the food!!!  These details are going to be the ingredients to help Tim Grandinetti, his partners Lynn and Lynnette Matthews-Murphy and those who back them, realize the dream that they have for Quanto Basta.  Most likely, the dream isn’t even close to the apex the restaurant will attain.

Quanto Basta is set to open on March 5, 2015.

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