Pamela Thomas This inventive Italian restaurant is a beloved Miami Beach institution, and though the menu is smallish, there are always delightful surprises. This year, it gave us some new insight into lemon preserves. We earlier had loved the flavor of a pasta entree special with, surprising to us, lemon preserves. It wasnt on the specials menu this week, but we shared a salad which also had lemon preserves and was wonderfully flavorful (its a good size, so sharing is fine). My husband ordered a specials entree with sausage and a type of rabe and tiny gnocchi which was bright and veggie-fresh (not bitter at all, as rabe can be) that we both really enjoyed. I had the polenta with mushrooms starter as an entree, which was so beautifully rich and creamy it filled me up and I had to take some of it home (and it was great the next day too). That said, know that this restaurant can be pretty loud. When we arrived at 7, it was full and the cacophony just from customers talking, dishes clanging and normal hustle and bustle was noticeable. At a table for two, we had to speak up significantly to talk to each other. The music was not loud, but so many speakers were hard to avoid. For easier conversing, Id advise trying the very back of the terrace or coming at opening.
