“Sharing life over plates” — that’s the motto at Vai’s in Naperville. It’s on the backs of the servers’ shirts and hung on the wall inside.
Co-owner Sandy Georganas explains it as coming together over food, over a meal: “Everything about it is inviting, nothing is pretentious.”
“We like really good food. We like Italian food,” said co-owner Anthony Vai. “We don’t like to be restricted. We take inspiration from all different places. We have classic-style recipes and look at what’s new and what’s hot, and the Italian ways we can incorporate dishes from around the world. Pizza is a beautiful platform for everything. Pasta is a beautiful platform for everything.”
Vai points to the zucchini frites, shrimp and lobster rigatoni, mushroom carpaccio, spicy peppered shrimp and polenta as some of the more popular dishes. “There are really lots of fun things that we do with our food. If you appreciate food done well you’ll appreciate every dish.” Many dishes are marked vegetarian, vegan or gluten free.
Picture Source: Shonda Talerico Dudlicek / Naperville Sun
