Ever have a day where you can’t quite decide whether you are more in the mood for French or Italian cuisine?
At our house, we call that di Mare time, and head for Ristorante di Mare – the South Beach bistro that specializes in Mediterranean cuisine from both the French and Italian Rivieras.
Di Mare’s menu now has one page that offers an assortment of French appetizers, salads, entrées and desserts, with the opposite page devoted to appetizers, salads, entrées and desserts from Italy.
Best of all, if you can’t quite decide which way to go, you can mix and match.
So last Tuesday, we headed down to di Mare. Arriving at 7:30, our party of three was seated at a pleasant table by the front window, and our server Cory quickly brought a plate of bruschetta topped with chopped tomato and basil. (Score one for Italy.)
Before getting to the French and Italian menus, however, we decided to sample a couple of appetizers from among the evening’s specials.
The first we tried was the quail mignon ($18), a breast of quail wrapped in bacon, sautéed in a black truffle cream sauce, and served in a nest of fettuccine. Bacon wrapped quail is a wonderful dish under most circumstances, and prepared with Chef Jean Zana’s sinfully rich cream sauce, it was spectacular.
The next appetizer we tried was di Mare’s pierogies ($12). We didn’t make any of the restaurant’s weekly Polish nights this season, so were overjoyed when we spotted the homemade Polish dumplings on the evening’s special list. The pierogis, stuffed with mashed potatoes and farmer cheese, are served here with something resembling a carbonara sauce that may be even better than the traditional sour cream. Delicious.
Next came a cup of a very good Italian wedding soup, after which we ordered the di Mare salad ($14) off the Italian menu and the goat cheese salad ($15) off the French menu.
While the goat cheese salad was very good, the di Mare salad – braised heart of romaine, artichoke heart, roasted pepper, Shitaki mushroom, hearts of palm, fresh Mozzarella, topped with virgin oil and balsamic glaze – was one of the best I have had recently. Score another for Italy.
For entrées, from the French menu I chose the veal forestiere ($30) and my husband opted for the salmon Francaise ($28). From the Italian menu, our companion went for the linguine Bolognese ($23).
My veal was sauteed in a Brandy cream sauce with wonderful exotic mushrooms, and was served with Jasmine wild rice and a vegetable medley. My husband gave very high marks to his grilled filet of Scottish salmon, topped with a lemon butter Chardonnay wine sauce and served with very tender asparagus.
On this evening, the French entrées were easy winners.
By this time, we were way too full for dessert, though we were tempted by memories of di Mare’s grand marnier cheesecake (very light and tasty).
But French or Italian (and there are some great Italian seafood dishes on the menu), there are a lot of good things are going on at di Mare. If you haven’t been there recently, try the summer menu. And if you don’t want to be hooked, stay away from the pierogies.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at [email protected].
The reviewer is a beachside resident who dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of this newspaper.
