“Restaurant critic review: The early bird gets a less expensive, but still tasty, meal at di Mare”

Restaurant critic review: The early bird gets a less expensive, but still tasty, meal at di Mare

Posted: 18 Nov 2010 08:53 PM PST

Here's a tip regarding di Mare, the new Italian restaurant that replaced the old Italian restaurant Ti Amo Siempre on Vero Beach's South Ocean Drive: Go for the early bird specials.

The sticker shock will be less jolting. You still may flinch at the bill, but you won't faint.

The time for three-course, early bird dinners is molto early, what Italians would consider a later lunch — 4 to 5:30 p.m. While the menu for these $20 prix fixe meals is limited, everything we tried was very good.

We enjoyed a rich, beautifully spiced soup to start — pasta di fagiole, the peasant dish of ditalini and beans. Instead of soup, you can order a salad, but when my guest wanted a Caesar, there was a $3 surcharge. The salad tasted good, but it somehow tasted less good because of the supplemental fee. Know what I mean?

Veal piccata was amazingly tender; tilapia oreganato was redolent with the flowery scent of the spice. Creamy Italian cheesecake finished the meal.Limoncello was served as a mid-meal palate cleanser, a nice touch.

When I visited the Amalfi Coast, many Italian farmers fermented their own lemons and served this intense liqueur all day. Limoncello was a freebie at di Mare.

However, wine prices here are jaw-dropping. With some as high as $32 — a glass, not a bottle — my guest chose a pedestrian glass of pinot noir for $14.

From the regular menu, several appetizers were outstanding: beef carpaccio ($12), crepe di Mare ($11), a thin, pancake with scallops and shrimp, and novel, homemade ravioli stuffed with duck and spinach ($10).

Di Mare's dark, somber décor hasn't changed much from that of the previous tenant.

That's disappointing. A restaurant billing itself as "of the sea" — the English translation of di Mare — should look like a day at the beach, sunny and blue.

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