Mia Rosa: A fresh take on tapas with Italian accent

BY MICKEY KITTERMAN

Mia Rosa

• 4501 Manchester Ave.
• 314-652-7672

The strip of Manchester Avenue between Vandeventer and Kingshighway, or “The Grove” as it is becoming known, is turning into a dining destination of considerable importance. The complexity and quality of all the currently available dining choices is delightful. Mia Rosa, a beautiful new Italian player, has entered the game.

The front entrance of Mia Rosa at the intersection of Taylor and Manchester has been handsomely renovated. Upon entering the restaurant, a sleek bar and spacious table seating await curious customers. The greeting is friendly and sincere as I’m shown to a table in the middle room. There are three rooms total and the third room has a wide open view into the kitchen. The rooms are decorated with Umbrian browns, Tuscan golds, creamy linens, and the space is far larger than it appears. The walls display many canvases painted by Fern Taylor in a Van Goghish style of bold brush strokes and palette knife work. It makes for a sophisticated backdrop for the clientele as well as the food.

If you think by Italian I mean another tired plate of tutti mare and overcooked pasta con broccoli, guess again. Chef/owner Phil Noe has introduced a menu of “cicchetti”—think of it as a tapas dining experience with Italian dishes. And considering chef Noe’s many years of experience in the kitchen of Blue Water Grill (Chef Noe most recently headed the kitchen at Sqwire’s), the seafood will take center stage. Some stand-outs on the menu right now are the grilled and chilled shrimp with peperonata, mussels steamed with white wine and brown garlic, and monkfish wrapped with proscuitto—all testify to Mia Rosa’s stated mission of presenting “coastal Italian cuisine.”

In addition to all the seafood, there is an extensive menu of flat-bread pizzas with many topping choices, including roasted garlic, smoked salmon, gorgonzola cheese, montasio cheese, and salsiccia, which is made in the restaurant.

There are several pasta selections with angel hair, tagliatelle, and ravioli. They are all creatively tossed and combined with porcinis, shrimp, scallops, and cheeses well beyond the standard parmesan. While fish and shellfish are an obvious focus of the menu, roast pork, osso bucco, and bracciole are the other meat choices available. So many appealing choices are just part of the “cicchetti” theme, and smaller portions encourage you to order a couple of things to sample. Furthermore the prices are surprisingly reasonable, hardly any menu items are over $12 and many are under $10.

I enjoyed a terrific (lunch) chicken dish, not available at night, that featured bone-in thighs sautéed in “agliata” (bread crumbs and a delicious garlic butter sauce). Salads and sides run from the ubiquitous caprese to the relatively scarce caponata—everything I sampled had an unmistakable sparkling freshness to it.

Don’t skip dessert; at $3 they are a bargain. I had panna cotta with blackberry coulis, but the chocolate with raspicello as well as the cassis ice cream (chef Noe’s recipe made by Serendipity) sound marvelous.

As befits the cicchetti menu, the wine list includes an above average number of wines by the glass. The list is of course, heavily Italian, and includes all your favorites like Pinot Grigio, Orvieto, Prosecco, Chianti, and Sangiovese. There are also some California Chardonnays, Rieslings, Pinot Noirs, and Cabernets.

Mia Rosa is a perfect fit for its cutting edge neighborhood.

You can e-mail Mickey Kitterman at mickeykitterman@sbcglobal.net.