A trattoria is by definition a neighborhood institution, usually a small, family-run affair with modest prices and few pretensions, serving down-home cooking for a local clientele. Casa Vecchia fits that description perfectly.
It is almost defiantly local. You will find it (but only if you have directions and/or a map) on a quiet back street lined with small stores, bars and no-frills diners close by the station at Yoyogi-Uehara, a district that still retains a distinctly neighborhood feel, even though it is barely outside the Yamanote Line.
When chef Hidenori Misaki set up shop here five years ago, he was clearly not aiming to lure people from all across the city. How could he, when his dining room was barely big enough to accommodate 12 customers at a time? But with Misaki and his two side-kicks in the kitchen, and his wife taking care of those six small tables, it wasn't long before he had built up a reputation in the immediate area.
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