Milan’s Casanova Grill Restaurant

There is no question but the Casanova Restaurant on Milan's Piazza della Republica offers the best Italian food in Milano and the most challenging menu. "Challenging?" Even with antipasti, zuppe, prima piatti, secondi di pesci OR secondi di carni, vedure, formaggi and dolci or frutta it's impossible to have all the best treats at one meal. So two visits seems minimum to enjoy the food and the superb service that gets even better on your second visit.

Return and you are a relative. Your name is known, your preferences noted and your presence treasured. Granted, I am an Italian but it's my considered opinion that Italian service comes from the heart - service charges are, after all, included in the bill. Maybe it is Mama's influence in the Italian family, but even the standard service in Italy seems incredibly welcoming. The service at the best restaurants, such as Casanova defines perfection.

Antipasti arrived with an assortment of plump and wrinkled green and black olives, Tuscan dried beef and at least seven or eight breads, breadsticks, crackers and other excuses to gluten gluttony. The antipasti high point came off the seasonal special menu and mixed grilled small Porto Belo and sautéed local wild mushrooms. The waiter felt this was "the best antipasti in the kitchen," and his smile widened as I ate every scrap, and then used hazelnut bread to scrub the plate as is both proper, and a compliment to the chef, in Italy.

On this visit, waterlogged by two aguas sin gas, I skipped zuppe. Given the hearty nature of most Italian soups, and the availability of wonderful bread, I often dine of antipasti, soup and desert. The Casanova's minestrone with rock lobster medallions or the traditional pasta e fagioli or bean soup each deserves a taste.

The day's risotto ran to creamy yellow rice with a slightly chewy texture garnished with more saffron than I usually put into paella. At other time's Casanova risotto comes with sweetbreads and spinach, with chicken livers or with all sorts of other happy additions - my favorite runs to tiny bits of veal and proscuito. It is worth noting that vegetarian dishes, or your favorite variations on the dishes in the menu, or a soup sample are just a request away.

Second, or main courses, offer either fish and/or meat. Some gourmands even manage both. It's my personal prejudice that meat is generally better in Milano than fish - the latter seems better in Venice, even though I've had trout in Milan that ranked with wild trout fresh from a stream. This visit my neighbors insisted I sample their "fileto de scofano spadellato con schiacciatina di patete all'olio di oliva." It translated as "Sautéed scorpion fish fillet with a potato pie in olive oil. Lousy name, but a delicious dish!

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