One of our favorite restaurants has long been the Amalfi Grille, which is just starting its second year in its new home on Miracle Mile in the location that at one time housed Carmel’s.
Even though this location is much more spacious than the restaurant’s former smallish quarters on Royal Palm Pointe, you still would be well advised to have a reservation – particularly during season.
When four of us arrived at 7:45 on a recent Thursday, we were quickly seated by hostess Brittany in a booth along the wall, and proprietor Bob Rose soon appeared to extend greetings.
While Bob usually nominates a Barolo or a Super Tuscan from his excellent wine list to accompany our meals, on this evening he suggested we might want to start with a Jermann Pinot Grigio ($49), a modestly priced wine that turned out to be very clean, very crisp – an excellent choice for the dishes we subsequently ordered.
For starters, we decided to forego one of our favorite appetizers anywhere, the calamaretti Amalfi – calamari very lightly fried with cannelloni beans and cherry peppers in a lemon and white wine sauce – and instead on this evening shared the oysters Rockefeller ($14) and a special grilled fig appetizer ($13).
The blue point oysters topped with creamed spinach and parmigiano reggiano were an excellent rendition of this classic dish, and the fresh figs – stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped with smoked prosciutto, grilled and topped with a balsamic glaze – melted in your mouth.
Then I enjoyed a simple side salad ($4) while my husband and our companions moved on to classic Caesar salads ($9, or $4 as an upgrade with dinner).
For entrées, I ordered the evening’s grouper special ($32), my husband opted for boneless beef short rib special ($32), one of our guests chose the veal chop Milanese ($32) and our other companion had the fettuccine arogosta ($29).
My dish consisted of a very nice panko-encrusted grouper filet, sauteed with shrimp in a beurre blanc sauce, and served atop a bed of lobster truffle mashed potatos (yum).
My husband’s short rib was slow roasted until fork tender in a cabernet demi sauce, and was served over fettuccine. Delicious.
The arogosta with homemade fettuccine in a vodka cream sauce with shrimp, garlic, a little basil, was a very tasty pasta dish, though we found the lobster on this occasion a bit disappointing. But the 12-ounce veal chop Milanese was a thing of beauty – a tender bone-in chop pounded thin, almost the size of a frying pan, breaded to perfection, pan fried and served with an arugula, tomato and fresh mozzarella salad.
The portions normally would cause us to demur when it comes time for dessert. But at the Amalfi Grille, that’s the point in the meal when head chef Chester Perrotti steps back and turns matters over to Dan Frechette, one of the most talented pastry chef’s around.
I’m not going to describe the desserts – a panettone bread pudding ($8), a pumpkin cheese cake ($9.50), and a Swiss chocolate mousse cake ($9) – because chances are Dan will be on to some new, even-more-wonderful creation the evening you dine there. Let me just say the desserts here are easily the best in Vero.
Dinner for two with a mid-range bottle of wine can run anywhere from $120 to $180 before tip. With a great bottle of wine, it can come to considerably more.
The new Amalfi Grille is a definite upgrade on the old. It is now open seven nights a week. With great food, fabulous service and a proprietor who cares, you have a winning combination.
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.
