Virtu Restaurant & Bar, 2460 Devine Street: March 2012 2 comments
Commenter (and blogger) April pointed out this closing of yet another Columbia restaurant I knew nothing about. From her review, it sounds like a nice place, if probably a bit tony for me.
I've heard the phrase "objects of virtu" before (probably in an SF story), and according to the always accurate Wikipedia:
The Italian humanist Giovanni Pontano described these objects as "statues, pictures, tapestries, divans, chairs of ivory, cloth interwoven with gems, many-coloured boxes and coffers in the Arabian style, crystal vases and other things of this kind . . . [whose] sight . . . is pleasing and brings prestige to the owner of the house." They all spoke to the wealth, taste and virtu of their owner.
-- John Brewer, The Pleasures of the Imagination
Judging from the way the peeling front awning reveals a palimpsest Dianne's, I suspect this whole space was once part of Dianne's, but since I've never visited that place either, I can't say for sure.
(Hat tip to commenter April).
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I'm pretty sure Virtu was in the location of what was once the Grazin Monkey (something else occupied that location between the GM and Virtu, however I cannot recall). I loved the Grazin Monkey and went there once in probably early high school (99 or early 2000s). I remember it's the first place I tried a portabello mushroom and they cooked it so well it tasted like meat.
Wow, you're quick! Thanks for the shoutout.