THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Mezzaluna

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Mezzaluna Restaurant Review:

Florin Mihailescu moved here from New York City just to open this restaurant. He rightly figured he’d save a whole lot of money if he imported his ideas into the Midwestern. The result is a dynamite Italian restaurant right smack in the middle of a sterile-looking strip mall. Mihailescu roams the room, at times offering unsolicited advice and supervision to his patrons. But the food is worth the interruptions. The Caesar salad is about the best in town, bar none. It’s fresh, zesty and hums with garlic and anchovy. The beef carpaccio, nearly translucent, is drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and served with arugula and long parmesan shavings. He has a deft hand with pastas here, whether with the ravioli or the penne with tomato-vodka sauce. Either will please even those who grew up on their Italian grandmother’s pasta. The pressed chicken breast with champagne-apple sauce comes with homey garlic mashed potatoes. Despite being a native New Yorker, he quickly learned the importance of offering a good steak. He serves a generous filet with a Barolo wine sauce. For dessert, try the homemade apple strudel or the Italian ricotta cheesecake. The wine list, particularly by the glass, is sparse at best as is the beer offerings. Nonetheless, Mihailescu has turned his corner of a non-descript commercial zone into a culinary oasis for his suburbia-bound patrons.