Fratelli Lyon

• Location-4141 2nd Avenue. Miami , Fl.
• Cuisine- Italian Bistro

The Gagits and his counsel arrange to meet at this new Design District hot spot. We entered the restaurant for our hard to get reservation and are greeted by the owner/chef and staff, nice touch even for Gagit.

We are seated in the main dining room of this furniture showroom with high open ceilings and a very open kitchen . Our server for the evening Guissipe, greets us in his native Italian and takes our order for drinks. They do not have hard liquor and only Italian wine and Italian beer along with speciality non-alcoholic drinks.Foodiechic and I order a glass of Rosato to start, a little to sweet for us and not comparable to a crisp French Rose , the Kitesurfer orders the Peroni Stout, the only flavor and quite heavy for the Miami atmosphere,and my counsel orders the best drink a refreshing lemonade-ginger or Limone -Zinrore perfect for the night.

We are now presented by a menu of many choices, antipasti starters of meat, cheese, and vegetables, a failure at Sardinia in Miami but a winner of Mario Batalli’s Otto in New York. We try the trio of Salumi starter,a Sopressta,Filine, and the fennel-studded Finocchiona all for $16.00 and a nice size and a tasty order much like Otto.We next order a Primi of Pasta for the table, ” ravioli evelini “, homemade ravioli, with herbed ricotta,brown butter, and parmagano sauce,as shown above. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the taste subtle yet flavorful.

We now have a tough choice deciding on our mains, but after consulting with the Chef we give Guissipe our choices and wait for them to arrive as we drink a few glasses of a Italian Merlot. As we wait the restaurant is now full and the noise level is almost deafening with the high ceilings,there is a side room that I would request for my next visit with low ceilings and much better for conversation.

The mains arrive all shown above,Foodiechic has the branzino alla Francesina,mediteranean Sea Bass, brown butter, lemon and capers, a nice dish but a little to subtle in flavor to say wow. My counsel has the young chicken ,with swiss chard and potatoes,again a nice dish but not wow. The Kitesurfer has a signiture dish,rissoto milinase, with’ boneless ossobuco’ again a nice dish but lacking the big flavor punch in the rissoto and the meat.I order a house speciality tonight, Grouper Cheeks,on a bed of couscous with chic peas. The Grouper cheeks were perfect in taste and consistancy, I wish there were more than three pieces for $27.00, the couscous and chic peas needed a flavor lift. I think the chef is afraid to use spices, he should go to Michael’s for a flavor lesson.

We now are shown the dessert menu by Guissepe, Foodiechic has the Ameretto pear ice cream ,a nice way to end the evening, kitesurfer a flowerless Chocolate cake and my Counsel, the best dessert,almond strawberry cake, with vanilla, a real stunner as shown above. I am dieting so only a Macciato for me. lol.The check comes and the place is now overflowing with patrons waiting to be seated so as soon as I sign the reasonable amount, $60.00 a person, we are basically led out but graciously at least.

Let the Truth be Told,after a dissapointing dinner last week at the new Pacific Time,Fratelli did not dissapoint. However,The Chef should add a little choice of spice flavored dishes, like the Kimchee Pork Belly at Michaels or the BBQ Shrimp at Redlight to really give us foodies a choice of tastes as we navigate our meal, Jonathan Eismann and Michelle Burnstein do not get it, hopefully, Ken Lyon will.

[rating:3.0]