The Trattoria that North Berkeley Needed
There are restaurants that aspire to be more than their setting. Via del Corso aspires to be exactly what its setting requires, and executes that aspiration with such completeness that it has become one of the most genuinely loved Italian restaurants in the East Bay. Located at 1788 Shattuck Avenue in the Gourmet Ghetto neighbourhood. The same block that contains Chez Panisse and, once, César. It operates as the casual, convivial counterpart to its neighbours: a place where the evening doesn't require a special occasion but always becomes one anyway.
The kitchen's philosophy is straightforward and demanding. The pasta is made fresh each day. The orecchiette, the pappardelle, the tagliatelle. Using semolina flour and eggs from local suppliers. The shapes are traditional rather than inventive; the technique is what matters. The sauces are slow-cooked reductions from bones and aromatics, finished with quality butter and parmesan, tasted and adjusted rather than plated by rote. The secondary courses. The braised lamb shoulder, the roasted chicken with salsa verde, the wood-fired bistecca for two. Are equally considered.
The dining room feels Italian in a way that is difficult to engineer. The lighting is warm without being theatrical. The noise level sits in the register of lively conversation rather than competing with it. The tables are close enough that you are aware of other dinners happening, but not so close that you are participating in them. The bar programme includes a short selection of Italian cocktails. A Negroni of conviction, an Aperol spritz for those who must. And a wine list that concentrates on Italy with genuine regional breadth: Barolo and Barbaresco from Piedmont, Sangiovese from Tuscany, Nero d'Avola from Sicily.
Why Via del Corso Works for Team Dinner
Team dinners in Berkeley trend toward the informal, and Via del Corso calibrates exactly to that register. The shareable pasta approach. You order multiple dishes for the table and everyone tries everything. Creates the social dynamic that makes a team dinner worth having. The price point means that the person running the expense account does not have to apologise for the choice, and the person with dietary preferences (the vegetarian in every team, the person who "doesn't drink wine") is accommodated without drama. The Italian trattoria format is one of the most proven team dinner structures in existence, and Via del Corso executes it better than any comparable room in North Berkeley.
What to Order
Begin with the burrata with roasted peppers and the arancini. Order three pasta dishes for a table of four: the cacio e pepe is the benchmark, the pappardelle with slow-braised lamb ragù is the comfort choice, and the orecchiette with broccoli rabe and sausage is the correct regional Italian choice. Main: the bistecca for two, if the group's appetite runs that way. Dessert: tiramisu, made in-house, nothing complicated required. Wine: ask the server for the Piedmont red of the week. The by-the-glass programme rotates and is reliably good.
Practical Details
Via del Corso, 1788 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709. Telephone: (510) 704-8004. Open Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday 5pm-9pm; Friday and Saturday 5pm-10pm; closed Mondays. Reservations via OpenTable strongly recommended for groups of four or more. Price range approximately $50-$75 per person for a full dinner with wine. Walking distance from the North Berkeley BART station.