|
May 3, 2002
Section: Weekend
Edition: No Dot
Page: 09H
Romantic Mezzaluna shines brightly over lovers of Italian food
Restaurants
Detroit News Restaurant Critic
Jane Rayburn
STERLING HEIGHTS -- "Mezzaluna": The word, in Italian, translates to half moon -- that beautiful crescent sliver in the dark night sky.
The mezzaluna also is a similarly crescent-shaped Italian kitchen blade, used to chop food on a cutting board. Both meanings have their place at Mezzaluna Ristorante Italiano, which took over the spot formerly known as Tirami Su Ristorante, on Metro Parkway and Van Dyke.
In the evening, if you sit inside, behind the tall faux trees, it is very dark indeed you almost expect the moon to hang overhead, perfectly, as if it were paid to do so by owners Zarko and Dena Palushaj.
Anywhere in Mezzaluna is very romantic: In the main dining room, a trompe l'oeil village scene features a mural of Italy, windows with flower boxes and awnings looking into an adjacent bar complete with a baby grand piano for heartfelt favorites. Everywhere, tabletops are lit by green-glass-shaded bistro lamps, and, if no one is playing piano, Frank Sinatra rules.
We're instantly brought chunks of crusty, addictive Italian bread, along with a slurry of olive oil, garlic, parmesan and a touch of balsamic vinegar. Nosh bread and that dipping sauce, peruse the vast menu, and you'll order and order, and eat and eat and by entree, if you're not careful you'll be calling stretcher-bearers to deliver you from pleasure, as well as the occasional evil.
Lunch and dinner menus go on for pages -- 16 appetizers, 25 different fresh and dried pasta dishes, 14 chicken breast dishes, nearly the same number of veal dishes -- you get the idea. Here, too, along with many Italian classics, are the usual findings such as penne aurora, penne pasta tossed with crab meat and banana peppers in a brandy-tomato cream sauce and scaloppine di vitello alla caronte, veal sauteed with tomatoes, basil, shallots and shiitakes, topped with fresh mozzarella and red pepper flakes in a white wine sauce.
The owners, the Palushajs, are Albanian, but Zarko has years of Italian restaurant experience, more than a dozen at upscale places in Westchester County, N.Y.
So could that explain our server's assertion that Mezzaluna's hallmark is really in daily specials such as roasted duck, and oven-baked fresh rabbit, marinated in white wine, garlic and rosemary? Of course, the latter turns out to be the brilliant full moon of Mezzaluna -- so crispy, meaty and exploding with juice, it fills our mouths with joy at every bite.
Good. That caramel-hued rabbit goes a long way in chasing our disappointment over broiled salmon, so simply prepared with white wine, lemon, garlic and butter sauce, yet impossibly dry. Despite its shimmering companions of green beans and broccoli, we set it aside after a few bites. Miraculously, upon our server's inquiry, it is whisked off the table, as well as our bill.
Service is out of the ordinary at Mezzaluna, whether we're delivered tasty, yet very mild, "hot" banana peppers, respectable though tepid calamari fritti and a designer-greens house salad with a nicely potent balsamic vinaigrette.
Zarko and Dena Palushaj, owners of Mezzaluna in Sterling Heights, with several of the specialties prepared by Zarko Palushaj, including veal, rabbit and antipasto. They toast with Tignanello wine.
|
