Corinth Square Prairie Village: Va Bene Italian Eatery opens
2 min readVa Bene Italian Eatery, the latest concept by area restaurateur Whitney VinZant, wants to be an unpretentious neighborhood gathering place for family and friends, fun date nights and business lunches.
VinZant took the former Urban Table space, at 8232 Mission Road in Prairie Village’s Corinth Square, and spent months converting it to a more airy design — open kitchen on the north end, and casual seating in the middle, then wrapping around the bar on the south end.
It also will have patio seating during nicer weather.
Menu: Va Bene focuses on fresh ingredients and house-made items such as bread, pastries and sausage.
For appetizers, there’s Italian crepes filled with lobster, along with toasted ravioli and meatballs. It also has soups, salads and sandwiches.
Pasta dishes include rigatoni Bolognese, lobster ravioli, lasagna, and tagliolini scampi. Customers can add chicken, salmon, shrimp and lobster to the dishes for an additional cost.
Other entrees include chicken piccata, grilled salmon, Italian pot roast and chargrilled prime rib-eye.
But pizza has been a particular favorite since the Jan. 1 official opening, especially the Margherita and Quattro Meat (with house-made sausage, crispy pancetta, Genoa salami, pepperoni and four-cheese blend). Pizzas feed two to three people for $15 to $17.
For dessert — gelato, Milk & Cookie (espresso gelato with olive oil chocolate chip cookie) and tiramisu. The Family Affair offers a collection of Italian cookies, cannoli and confections for $15.
The full-bar features wine, beer and Italian cocktails. It has a house-made limoncello, and its own seltzers on tap including black cherry.
But the Rosemary Daiquiri will be the talker with its rosemary-flavored smoke bubble.
Hours: The kitchen is open from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 9:30 Friday; 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday. The bar is still open about 30 minutes later each day.
Specials: Happy hour is 4 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday with drink and small plate specials. Wednesday and Sunday it offers half-off wine bottles.
During the pandemic with many consumers wanting carry-out and delivery options, it is focusing on travel-friendly food so they can have the same quality items at home as they would dining in the restaurant, said Nathan Deters, executive chef.
Urban Table closed in September after nine years in the center.
VinZant also plans to open a Taco Republic on the site of the former Arby’s in Corinth. He also has Louie’s Wine Dive, BRGR Kitchen + Bar, Gram & Dun and Fresko Natural Food in his restaurant group.
