LocalVore: L’Amante is a Burlington Adventure

To experience truly great food is to fall in love.  It is an act of quiet passion conceived and carried out through exacting quality and arresting flavor.  It is the kind of meal that leaves you at a loss for words, in the end both sated and desirous.

L’Amante, located at 126 College Street in Burlington, Vt., not only understands this truth, but revels in its execution. Serving contemporary Italian cuisine in a peaceful environment, chef Kevin Cleary and his staff regale their patrons with a gustatory redefinition of what it is to be a lover — un amante — of food with every dish they offer.



The menu is a thoughtful, well-conceived whole, which stands not as a group of disparate dishes but as a conversation of the palate; there are certain themes in Cleary’s creations, such as the varied and nuanced use of balsamic and the warming recurrence of truffle oil.  The result is elegant without an ounce of showiness, a kind of art without affront.  To begin, L’Amante, which opens at 5 p.m. for dinner Monday through Saturday, boasts a familiar but playful host of antipasti — including the calamari standby and several local salads — that gives a nod to traditional Italian cuisine without being bound by it.  The mushroom bruschetta is a glorious play on the old bread-and-tomato, and surpases its inspiration in texture and flavor. The mushrooms arrive in all of their earthly splendor, a subtle and nutty flavor complemented deftly by the rich halo-yolk of a fried egg atop a thick, fresh piece of house Italian bread.  The rich salt of pancetta, a type of Italian bacon, makes the dish.

Perhaps the worst part of the experience is making a final decision for a main course. Options range from paella-like risotto to lobster; the secondi options will leave you equally astounded and indecisive.

Both the steak frites and the quail at the end of the menu are delicious as well. The steak is cooked expertly to order, and at medium rare the taste is front and center, its richness highlighted by sautéed onion and the caramel-bitter sharpness of balsamic.  For his frites, Cleary has created a kind of parmesan polenta fry, dusted in flour and then fried to remind diners of the most perfect version of the original potato: perfect crispness and softness upon the first bite. The quail, accompanied by small, golden fingerling potatoes, is an equal delight.  But the true genius of this dish is found in the brussels sprouts — delicate and succulent, even to those who claim not to be lovers of the green. The accompanying sauce, though called marsala on the menu, seems to deserve another name entirely. Made with a butter base, the sauce dispels any possible bitterness from the sprouts, and marries the earthy flavors of the potatoes and quail into a remarkable whole.  It is also excellent accompanying the polenta fries of the steak frites.

The variety of the wine selection begs similar attention.  By the glass, the Umberto Cesari Moma is an astounding Tuscan red, warm and plum-like with a spice that brightens without becoming too sweet.  The staff, who serve attentively without imposing, are knowledgeable and happy to provide tastes to those of age and interest.
L’Amante’s signature basil ice cream is the crown on the perfect meal. It is rich and subtle without losing any of the herb’s flavor and complemented by a balsamic reduction and fresh strawberries. The house-made Limoncello makes a perfect pair with the ice cream.

L’Amante offers a warm atmosphere, and has a competent and dedicated staff.  What the restaurant does to food, with unsurpassed grace, is in fact an act of art, and one of great beauty.