First Look: Mima in Irvington
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- February
- 1
One word: Go.
Mima is the new restuarant owned by Zuppa owner Robert Leggio and his cousin John Leggio. The menu has the same vibe as Zuppa, it’s just that it matches its Irvington home better: It’s short, casual and rustic.
That up there is the trecce — a corkscrew type pasta. It’s basically a do-it-yourself cabonara: it’s got bacon, onions, pepper and its topped with a farm fresh egg that you toss with the pasta to make the sauce. Oh. Sure. Like that isn’t good.
Rustic starts with the tables settings. That’s a napkin that feels more like a dish towel, but a cool dish towel your friend who has an interior designer has; not the kind you pick up at Walmart.
They’ve kept the same brick wall and basic layout as the former restaurant, Red Hat (which moved to larger digs on the riverfront), but changed the color scheme and the fancy-factor. Check it:
The bar is a different top now.
I like the wine bottles. There are also cute little wine signs hanging around, like “We will drink no wine before its time. It’s TIME!”
My friend and I shared our dinners. This is the argula salad. It comes with tomatoes (even in winter), parmesan and a lemony vinaigrette. Good dressing, nice baby leaves that weren’t too bitter, just nice and peppery. Unfortunately, the fried artichokes were cold and limp, like they’d been fried hours before and left out on the counter. This, and another problem with a fried thing later, was my only issue with the meal.
This is the duck sausage. It’s refered to as grilled duck salsiccia on the menu. (I don’t know Italian that well and had to ask.) It comes with lentils and potatoes and was very satisying on a cold winter’s night. Very tasty.
We got two creamy pastas. The trecce above (fabulous) and this one, a tagliatelle with speck, treviso, piave, and truffle oil. (If you don’t know what these Italian ingredients are, just ask. The staff is knowledgable and happy to help.)
Creamy, smoky, salty, with a little crunch from the treviso and a little elegance from the truffle oil. Very nice.
Here was my only other issue. The bombolini — little fried balls — were also not so crisp and not so warm. I’m thinking the restaurant had some sort of fryer malfunction.
My friend and I got to try a number of wines because they offer them in half-glasses! We sat at the bar, and the bartender was very nice and an efficient server. It looked like this guy was, too.
I especially like the back of his shirt!
Mima Vinoteca, 63 Main St., Irvington. 914-591-1300. mimarestaurant.com.
(4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)
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on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 6:02 pm by Liz Johnson.
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Love Love Love this place…just as much as I love the sister restuarant Zuppa. Although we miss Gus and Johnny down here in Yonkers, we have no problems driving up to Irvington for the delicious organic salad and my favorite trecce pasta! Love the rustic decor and the food and service is top notch as expected from the Leggio legacy!