Italian restaurants are a lira a dozen these days, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that area shopping centers have embraced the trend. Aventura Mall was once a major destination in north Miami-Dade, but with a renovation to Biscayne Boulevard that has the entire community looking like a strip mall, the shopping megaplex has now integrated an eatery a considerable cut above the usual upscale fast food of the Friday’s ilk.
The new experiment is the incorporation of Bella Luna, a spinoff from Carpaccio, a successful Italian restaurant at the Bal Harbour Shops’ evocation of Rodeo Drive East. Carpaccio is a good but temperamental restaurant where the food is better than the often condescending service. There’s a bit of that feel to Bella Luna, too, but the staff also knows that Aventura isn’t Bal Harbour. It’s a bit odd to find valet parking next to Sears, but the restaurant is clearly filling some kind of void in this much-hyped neighborhood.
Crowds making a beeline to the restaurant aren’t all shoppers. Bella Luna has done the improbable and made Aventura Mall a dining destination, and the reason is an extensive menu of reasonably priced dishes that have already proven their worth at Carpaccio.
Carpaccio is, as you might expect, a treasured opener at the Bal Harbour restaurant, and at Bella Luna as well. The classic beef carpaccio, served with artichokes and arugula ($6.95), is very good, but the don’t-miss carpaccio is a tossup between two other versions — the salmon or tuna with capers, or the thin-sliced, marinated portobello (each also at $6.95).
The homemade mozzarella is nice with tomatoes ($5.95), but even better is the skewered mozzarella with porcini ($5.95) or the eggplant, tomato and mozzarella ($5.95). Another good starter for two or more is the risotto with a creamy wine sauce, shrimp and a bit of crumbled goat cheese ($14.95).
A few pasta dishes, like pennini with shrimp, endive and tomato ($13.50) come out curiously bland, but most are well-made and full-flavored, including capellini with broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini and tomato ($11.50) and a properly spicy linguine with capers, olives and tomato ($11.50).
Given the pristine quality of the pastas at Bella Luna, I’ve been disappointed in some of the fish dishes. Snapper with clams, shrimp and mussels ($17.95) is properly cooked, but the fish had a dull flavor the night I tried it, as if it were frozen, not fresh. Salmon with capers and roast peppers ($16.95) was on the dry side, but big appetites will do well with a salmon and snapper combination served on a moist bed of arugula ($17.95).
Veal chop pounded thin, breaded, fried and served with a green salad on top is as ubiquitous as sesame-seared tuna these days, but Bella Luna’s version ($19.95) is very good and a more flavorful offering than the same pounded chop with prosciutto, cheese and a heavy wine sauce ($19.95). Similarly, a grilled chicken breast with a green salad on top ($13.50) is a better dish than chicken breast over-stuffed with mascarpone and spinach, then topped with mozzarella and cream sauce ($13.50). With so many heavy ingredients, none really stands out.
Veal scaloppine gets a bit more sauce than it needs as well. I liked the light flavors of the scaloppine with roasted peppers, capers and olives ($15.95) but it ended up a little tough from simmering in too much sauce, as does scaloppine with artichokes and mushrooms ($15.95).
Bella Luna offers a medium-sized wine list with plenty of reasonably priced options to accompany the restaurant’s well-flavored dishes. Particularly commendable among whites is the flavorful Terre de Tufi ($37) and a good pinot grigio-sauvignon blanc blend ($25). Reds that make good food matches include the flavorful Rhone from Jaboulet called Parallel 45 ($21), Avignonesi’s Sangiovese ($28) and Badia a Coltibuono’s elegant Chianti Classico Riserva ($36).
Service at Bella Luna borders on the intrusive as a crowd of staff descends on tables. No chance of getting lost in the crowd here: On my last visit, I stopped counting after seven staffers had helped out at my table by the time the entrees arrived. Helpful, sometimes opinionated to the point of challenging what diners really want, the service at least gets points for making an effort.
There’s a moment in the film Moonstruck when the grandfather looks up at the night sky, raises his hand and praises “La bella luna.” When I saw the film in Italy, the title was translated Stregatta de la luna, bewitched by the moon. That idea came back to me after dining at Bella Luna, which is indeed a bewitching spot amid Aventura Mall.
M.L. Warren is a pseudonym to protect our dining critic’s anonymity. Please phone in advance to confirm information on hours, prices, menu items and facilities.
Three Stars
Cuisine: Italian
Aventura Mall, 19575 Biscayne Blvd.
305-792-9330
Cost: moderate
Credit cards: all major
Hours: lunch, dinner daily
Reservations: accepted
Bar: beer, wine
Smoking: areas allowing and prohibiting
Wheelchair accessible: yes
Good
