One of the innovators among restaurants offering summer dining specials is Mimmo’s Scampi Grill in Vero’s old downtown.
In previous year’s, we have enjoyed their Thursday night deal – a three-course seafood dinner for $20 – and their Friday “Couple’s Night” special – dinner for two plus a bottle of house wine for $50.
This year, Mimmo’s has added a Wednesday night special – a two-course veal chop dinner for $21.95. Like the other two summer promotions, there is no early dining requirement.
So this past Wednesday, we presented ourselves at this attractively decorated trattoria shortly before 7:30, and found the dining room practically full.
The Wednesday special does not include wine, but we ordered a nice red at a reasonable price to accompany the veal.
For the first course on this special, you get a choice of four salads. I ordered the caprese salad and my husband opted for the Caesar. (The other choices were a mixed salad and a baby spinach salad.) A good start.
Then for the 10-ounce veal chop, there were five preparations to choose from:
• Milanese – pan seared with Italian bread crumbs, topped with marinated tomato and served with pasta aioli;
• Pizziola – pan seared with Italian bread crumbs topped with fresh mozzarella, Roma tomato, basil, finished in a plum tomato sauce and served with penne;
• Fontina – wild mushrooms, fresh mozzarella, roasted garlic in a light red pepper cream sauce, and served with angel hair pasta;
• Spinachi – fresh spinach, roasted garlic, and fresh herbs in a light basil cream sauce with angel hair pasta;
• Mediterranean – pan roasted with tri-color peppers, Vidalia onions, Mediterranean olives; Roma tomato, and aromatic olive oil, finished in a light plum tomato sauce with linguini.
I decided to try the chop Mediterranean style, and my husband went for the Fontina.
In both cases, the bone-in veal chops were pounded thin, and the thicker area near the bone was served medium rare.
While these were not the ultra-expensive chops that you get in a restaurant where they charge $40 or $50, the veal was tender and the Fontina sauce in particular was luscious. I also liked the tastes of the Mediterranean, but think next visit I may try the Spinachi.
While “veal night” is an interesting new twist for Vero summer dining, with wine and tax the tab is likely to run $60 to $70. We think both the three-course seafood special on Thursday and Friday night special with wine represent better values.
When we tried the seafood special last year, the first course offered a choice of Rhode Island clams, New Zealand mussels, or calamari fradiavolo. Then after a soup or salad, the main course choices were shrimp scampi, shrimp con broccoli, shrimp al funghetto, Mimmo’s ultimate vongole, and scungilli ala vodka.
The Friday menu, in addition to seafood entrees, offered a choice of such Scampi Grill favorites as veal piccata, veal “pizziola,” chicken Mediterranean, melanzane al forno (eggplant), and penne Bolognese.
Whether it is with veal, seafood or some other dish, the sauces here are wonderful; unlike those at so many local restaurants, the Scampi Grill’s sauces complement the food instead of overwhelming it.
As we have suggested before, Mimmo’s ranks right up there with the best of Vero’s Italian restaurants.
If you are a veal lover, by all means try Wednesday’s veal chop special. If not, there’s always seafood on Thursday. And the Friday couples night menu remains a great way of enjoying the best of the Scampi Grill at a great price.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com.
The reviewer is a beachside resident who dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.