|
The
Plot Thickens
By Mark Goldberg Louie’s Brick Oven opened so quietly four months ago that I didn’t realize it was in the new Avanti center that I pass every other Friday on my way to FIU’s Biscayne Bay campus. I attend a writing group on those nights and am always looking for a place to have dinner. If I kept my car windows down, I wouldn’t have missed Louie’s. The incredible barbecue smoke aroma from the wood-burning grill is like a sensory beacon that reaches out and grabs you long before you enter the restaurant. Louie’s is all brick and dark woods, an engaging bar and a showplace open kitchen. It’s also a place for everyone, whether you’re looking for a thin-crust pizza, an enormous salad, creative pastas or full-course meals. The food is mainly Italian, mostly from old world traditional Napolitano recipes, courtesy of owner Lou DiBono’s mother. DiBono was instrumental in opening China Grill, in New York and on South Beach, and many other China Grill management restaurants. The menu has a neighborhood feel, with a wide range of selections. And many of them are different slants on old favorites. Here, basic wings become Coal Fired Italian Chicken Wings ($7.95). No spicy barbecue sauce. And, the plump drumettes are not breaded, but marinated in Italian dressing, sprinkled with Italian seasoning and cooked in the charcoal pizza oven. They’re served with pizza bread wedges and topped with caramelized sweet onions. The result is earthy and rustic. Chicken Lettuce Wraps ($9.95) combine ground chicken with hoisin and soy sauce, fried shallots and chopped peanuts, heated in the oven, cooled to room temperature and served with a stack of lettuce leaves. Wrap the combination in a lettuce leaf and enjoy. The Crispy Calamari ($9.25) beckoned, since they were breaded with graham cracker crust instead of panko. We thought it might give the shellfish a sweeter, Grandma’s kitchen slant. Unfortunately, the calamari were virtually tasteless and the side of marinara was also bland, so one didn’t help the other. However, the Caprese ($9.95) was excellent. The buffalo mozzarella was fresh and rich. But it was the firm, red beefsteak tomatoes that stole the dish. Can’t remember when we had tomatoes that good. Pizzas are very thin-crust — Louie’s makes all their own bread — and topped with delectable ingredients. Mushroom ($11.95) offered roasted portobello as well as sliced button mushrooms, along with grilled onions, the requisite mozzarella and surprising clumps of goat cheese, marrying the mellow to the earthy. The Margherita ($12.95) is the not-so-typical cheese pizza; this one topped with buffalo mozzarella, imported Italian tomatoes, olive oil and fresh basil. Don’t look for a broad range of pastas at Louie’s. It’s penne, rigatoni and linguine. It’s what they do with those three that makes the pasta perfect. The Shrimp Penne ($16.95) arrives in a cream sauce colored pink by hand-crushed tomatoes and sporting large steamed shrimp. The Carbonara ($12.95) is also in a cream sauce, only it contains bacon, garlic, eggs, parmesan, parsley and ground black pepper, all worked so fine that the cream sauce stays creamy. Make room for the Homemade Sunday Gravy ($16.95). Anyone worth his sauce knows that pasta sauce is really called gravy. And this gravy was served in DiBono’s home every Sunday — the rigatoni sharing the bowl with pork, sausage and beef-pork-veal meatballs in a secret recipe pomodoro. The name Wood Grilled Butterflied Whole Trout ($18.95) practically says it all, except to add that it was moist and fleshy, emanating the wild cherry wood and red oak firing the grill. Louie’s doesn’t have a freezer and brings in the food daily, so there is no question that everything is fresh. The Char-grilled Skirt Steak ($20.95) was a full 14 ounces, splashed with chimichurri and served with deep-fried onion, zucchini and squash frizzles, and bleu cheese. The Veal Paillard ($22.95) was an utter disappointment. Heavily panko-breaded and deep fried, the veal was too thin, too tough and it’s taste was hidden beneath the breading. On the other hand, we would order the Rack of Lamb ($28.95) on every visit. Also wood-grilled, the four meaty domestic chops were crusted with crushed pistachios in a mustard sauce and served over quinoa, a cereal grain from Peru that eats like coarse couscous. And since Louie’s is a barbecue, don’t forget the Baby Back Ribs ($19.95) that have been braised for four hours then grilled with a homemade barbecue sauce. If you’ve got room, select a dessert ($5.95) from a verbal menu. The Chocolate/Peanut Butter Pie was as sweet as it sounds, the New York Cheesecake was as rich as the original, the Apple Crumb Pie was wonderful and the Tiramisu was totally Italian. My writing group is this Friday. Hold me a table, Louie. ********************* Louie’s Brick Oven
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
