Restaurant Review: Casa Bianca

They’re calling it “weirdo Italian” but the better watchwords are “fun” and “approachable”

Reviewed by Taylor Tobin, Fri., Aug. 23, 2024

The bar at Casa Bianca (photo by Richard Casteel)

As an adjective, “weird” is having a real moment. It’s an incisive term that draws strength from its vagueness: It means everything and nothing all at once. We’re now seeing it applied to countless real-world situations, but even so, a new restaurant describing its own menu as “weirdo” is a choice that feels, well, weird.

To be fair, Casa Bianca – the recently opened East Austin restaurant helmed by executive chef and Uchi alum Joseph Zoccoli – came up with their “weirdo Italian” catchphrase before Democratic veep candidate Tim Walz turned “weird” into the word of the summer. But the omnipresence of “weird” on social media these days – and its long history in the marketing of Austin – made me think carefully about whether it applies to what’s happening at Casa Bianca.

Stepping off of East Cesar Chavez Street and into Casa Bianca is an instantly soothing experience. The restaurant’s decor scheme focuses on bright, clean whites, natural wood tones, touches of mint green for vibrance, and attractive accents like a terrazzo bar top, arched doorways, and floods of sunlight. Nothing “weirdo” here – just a nicely neutral backdrop for dining, drinking, and Instagramming. The back patio is similarly straightforward: concrete flooring, plenty of tables, and gauzy shade sails draped overhead. In-your-face visuals aren’t a priority at Casa Bianca; they’d rather make their big statements in the kitchen and behind the bar.

Beef tartare cannoli (photo by Gavin Booth and Karen Reinsberg)

Zoccoli’s menu certainly isn’t a strict or traditional interpretation of Italian cuisine. Rather, these dishes offer a whimsical spin on Italian and Italian-American favorites with some global accents that reflect Zoccoli’s culinary education and experience. A prime example is the Clams Casino Panzerotti, which adapts Rhode Island’s beloved baked half-shell clam dish into a handheld dough pocket similar to a mini calzone. The dough itself features an indulgent layer of grease that will leave your fingertips shiny, and the filling delivers gooey smoked mozzarella and a pleasant undertone of bacon. Unfortunately, I detected very little clam flavor ... but again, there was bacon and cheese, so I couldn’t be too disappointed. Yet the crowning glory of this dish has to be the Calabrian chili jam served alongside. This spread sings with flavors of stone fruit and a subtle and slow-burning heat, and I’m impatiently hoping Casa Bianca will start selling takeout jars of this magical jelly.

Another imaginative starter course is the beef tartare cannoli, which tucks the beef into compact dough parcels and tops it with bone marrow vinaigrette, fruit mostarda, and a tuft of Pecorino cheese made from the milk of sheep who’ve been grazing on chamomile. The dough lacks the flaky shatter of a traditional cannoli shell, so these snacks eat more like egg rolls. There’s also something perplexing about the meat inside the shells; when I order tartare, I expect the tenderness of raw steak and the intensity of pure beef flavor. The beef inside the cannoli tastes and feels cooked, which makes the overall experience somewhat jarring. But the bone marrow vinaigrette provides a welcome boost of umami, the mostarda brings a zing of brightness, and the herbal-hued Pecorino is salty, nutty, and pleasantly aromatic.

To be fair, Casa Bianca came up with their “weirdo Italian” catchphrase before “weird” turned into the word of the summer. But it undersells their menu, which is innovative, sophisticated, and playful.

When it comes to the entrée courses, Casa Bianca dials the weirdness down even further, serving up dishes that will appear familiar to diners who enjoy modern Italian fare made with local ingredients. House-made cavatelli features an attractively toothsome texture, and it pairs equally well with savory lamb ragu and fermented honey on the dinner menu as it does with cannellini beans, guanciale, and pickled serrano peppers on Casa Bianca’s lunch menu. The Herb Caesar salad matches field greens with punchy fronds of dill (which could have been diced more finely for better integration) and sourdough breadcrumbs with a substantial enough crunch that I didn’t miss the standard Caesar salad croutons. The dressing brings a creamy texture and an engaging hint of acidity, and while the anchovy flavor is subtle and delicate, Casa Bianca offers the option to add cured Spanish anchovies for extra funk.

Mille Plateaux Negroni (photo by Richard Casteel)

Proteins like grilled pork belly with whey caramel mustard and savoy cabbage and branzino with crispy skin and caramelized fennel puree don’t jump off the menu page with their weird panache, but Zoccoli’s expert execution makes them worthwhile orders. If you do want to dip your toe into the weirdo pond to see how the water feels, your entrée of choice should be the Hoja Santa Cannelloni. Hoja santa, a Mexican herb also known as pepperleaf, tastes like a blend between mint, tarragon, and sassafras, and when Chef Zoccoli lays these leaves atop a roll of fresh pasta stuffed with tangy buttermilk ricotta and surrounded by a pool of spicy arrabbiata sauce, the result is a wild collision of flavors that somehow manages to be completely balanced and harmonious. It’s a ballsy dish, and chef Zoccoli’s nerve pays off in a big way.

Much like the food menu, Casa Bianca’s cocktail list flirts with weirdness by featuring some unusual ingredients and flavor profiles, but ultimately lands in a place of elegant irreverence. Beverage director Richard Thomas has assembled a surprisingly large collection of drinks ranging from tiki-inspired libations to a series of martinis to a trio of specialty margaritas. The breadth of the cocktail offerings is impressive (as is the sheer size of Casa Bianca’s excellently balanced Aperol spritz), but two sections of this menu deserve particular attention: “Negronis” and “New Italian.” Here, Thomas gets full liberty to play around with Italian spirits and liqueurs, and we as guests benefit from his creativity. For example, the Sonate Antillaise takes the classic Negroni on a Caribbean vacation by replacing gin with pineapple rum and vermouth with floral and citrusy Lillet Blanc. The pineapple never overwhelms the other flavors, and the bitterness of Campari anchors the fruit-forward taste profile. This Negroni is an ideal match for Casa Bianca’s Cold Bar offerings; I particularly enjoyed taking sips of the Sonate Antillaise in between bites of chilled shrimp with zesty Calabrian chili sauce and zippy lemon aïoli.

Casa Bianca certainly isn’t a “weirdo” by summer 2024 standards, but they should take that as a win. Because what defines them instead is sophisticated yet playful Italian-ish fare, impeccable Negronis, and a taste for innovation that’s sure to serve them well in Austin’s competitive hospitality market.