BB & Luigi's smoothly switches to steaks with some Italian dishes

BB & Luigi's Vineyard Steak House is an ambitious venture that takes over from the equally ambitious Tuscany Art in Dining that it replaces.

The ownership of the Grapevine restaurant is the same, and so is the chef, Aurora Smith. But the management and sommelier are new. Manager Bob Williams comes from Lonnegan's Pub, which he sold last year. (It's now called Baxter's.) Sommelier Luigi Santos previously worked at Bob's Steak & Chop House.

The new team has shifted the cuisine from Italian to "steakhouse with a touch of Italian." How that translates on the menu: steaks and chops combined with a few Italian items held over from the Tuscany days. The concept can seem a bit unfocused; but then again, steak and Italian are two popular cuisines. And a recent Saturday night dinner showed the kitchen to be on its toes, with pasta and steak dishes that were well executed.

It has kept the popular bruschetta ($8), a classic rendition of crisp toast rounds topped with chopped tomato. But the better starter was the warm Bucheron goat cheese ($11), served in an oval dish with crunchy pita chips. It was a good dish to share with a group, and brought to mind the old spinach-artichoke dip, but with an upscale twist, thanks to its dried cranberries, fireweed honey and lemon thyme flavors.

Vineyard salad ($7) was nicely composed with intriguing ingredients: romaine and iceberg lettuces topped with artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, Roma tomatoes, thin strips of red onion, crumbled gorgonzola cheese and candied walnuts for a gratifying crunch. As a starter salad, it was big enough for two to split.

BB & Luigi's selection of steaks includes six cuts -- filet, rib-eye, T-bone, New York strip -- which it advertises as prime. Prices seemed reasonable. The 12-ounce rib-eye ($29), cooked medium-rare, was certainly a fine example, with its subtle crust and juicy, red interior.

Entrees come with choice of potato: baked, garlic-mashed or scalloped. The last was the best choice, with thin slices of potato and bits of onion baked with cream until soft. The garlic mashed potatoes, served in another oval dish, were dry.

We also ordered two side dishes a la carte to share: a pleasing lobster macaroni and cheese ($12) with flavorful Gruyere cheese that made up for the sparse, overdone bits of lobster; and a creamed corn ($8) with a heavy-handed and inexplicable dose of cheese that ruined any delicacy or corn flavor.

The bone-in veal chop ($35) was a statuesque piece of meat, nearly 3 inches thick, with a slightly fatty crust that cooked nicely brown and injected lots of flavor. Its porcini mushroom sauce seemed gloppy, however. But stuffed chicken Florentine ($20) was a standout: Hearty yet refined, the flattened chicken breasts enclosed a filling of spinach, roasted red pepper and smoked Gouda, brought together by a ladle of garlic cream sauce.

Wine prices were steep, with even an ordinary malbec from Argentina weighing in at $40. If Santos was on the premises, he wasn't visible. Service overall wasn't up to the level of the kitchen, beginning with a delinquent host. As confused diners loitered at the front stand, staffers passed by, none expressing the concern that tells you a restaurant is well run.

Part of the confusion is in the layout: There are two entrances; one has diners walk through the dining room, with no one to give them directions. The restaurant also suffers from poor signage, with the second-floor Sky Bar serving as the only visible indication of the restaurant's location.

But it's a beautiful space, with its fireplace, grand rooms and extensive use of stone -- a legacy from the Tuscany days that it has wisely kept.