Paul Mineo's Trattoria

  Over the years, West Port Plaza has been the location of lots (and lots) of restaurants. Everything from ice cream shops to Japanese food with a view has been available at one time or another. Paul Mineo’s Trattoria, owned by the second generation of the well-known local restaurant family, opened there last winter, providing visitors to that part of the county with some fine, home-style options for the fan of Italian cuisine. Several dining rooms, separated by a rather smoky bar, are on two different levels, but the feeling is relatively intimate for a mall restaurant.

Unfortunately, the entrance opens into the lounge area, almost on top of the musicians on live- music nights, and the host station is difficult to find. The hostess is exuberant, however. We were at the mall several hours earlier for another event, and when we stopped to look at the menu, she bounced out and invited us in, asking "Do you like Italian food?"

When we returned, dinner for off to a good start with slices of sauteed portobello mushroom, warm and meaty, seasoned with a little garlic and some balsamic vinegar, both light and satisfying at the same time. Minestrone was full of vegetables and light on the pasta, which is fine with us, with good multi-vegetable taste. Pasta fagiole, the classic Italian bean soup, was closer to an American variation, quite brothy rather than the denser homeland version, heavier on the beans than the pasta, and with evidence of a ham bone having spent the last moments of its existence in the soup pot. Both soups were hot enough, something we always hope for. But the winner, in a close race, was the eggplant parmigiana, lovely and tender, in a full-flavored tomato sauce, the eggplant creamy, the cheese not overwhelming everything else.

A risotto pescatore was alluring, and definitely worthy. Not just rice-with-sauce, too often found in restaurants, thiswas much closer to The Real Thing, the rice creamy with a wee bit of resistance to the tooth, the ruddy tomatoes providing a little acidity to contrast with the sweetness and salinity of mussels, shrimp and scallops which basked, perfectly cooked, in the risotto. Beef tenderloin in a Marsala sauce showed off good beef, carefully cooked, the pan-sauce seasoning light on a wine whose sweetness would have been superfluous, but showing the possibility of a little red wine, too, some veal stock and just a dab of tomato. Veal saltimbocca also displayed a nice balance, the veal tender and quickly seared, its prosciutto ham and mozzarella layered on top with a little hit of rosemary, rather than the sage that often accompanies it.

The unsung pleasure of St. Louis' family-owned Italian restaurants are their pastas. We can't say it enough, and happily encourage exploration in that area of their menus. In the case of Paul Mineo’s, his mother’s lasagna is on the list. Maybe the stuff in freezer cases has made folks less appreciative of good homemade lasagna, but don’t miss this. It’s festa food, something for a celebration. A proper balance of pasta, meat and cheese keep everything just right, a long, delicious home-style step away from contrived, architectural, fancy food.

Dessert is an effort after a meal like this, admittedly. But the cannoli were crisp and filled to order. The wine list, properly heavy on Italian varieties, should be more inclusive, but there are enough choices in a moderate price range to keep everyone happy. Our server was pleasant and knowledgeable and also patient despite what was a relatively late hour for St. Louis diners.

Paul Mineo’s Trattoria

333 Westport Plaza

314-878-8180

www.paulmineos.com

Lunch Mon.-Fri., Dinner Mon.-Sat.

Credit cards: All major

Wheelchair access: Poor

Smoking: Yes

Entrees: $18-$30

Comments

[nosh]

I enjoy your blog and appreciate the reviews. But this one is sorely lacking any mention or citation of prices. Worst of all, the website that is linked includes an extensive menu, but omits prices as well. When will restaurants realize that this is self-defeating -- no matter how reasonable the prices really are, I'm now guessing that they are so out of line that the restaurant is afraid to list them.

[Ann]

Ooops. A line was omitted. We just fixed it. Thanks for the heads up. And you're right; prices really do belong on websites - and so do current menus.

[mister]

$18-30 for entrees that sound like those of the typical upper-end italian/continental genre in stl doesn't get me excited. It would be useful to know what they get for that piece of lasagna made with dry pasta. Not there's anything wrong with the stuff, but at a certain price point it's not appropriate. I am still waiting for a moderately priced italian restaurant that breaks out of the stl mold, something like those that are so common in NY and NJ. Let's see some brocolli rabe, chicken scarpariello or cacciatore, clams oreganata, and good, rustic italian bread, not the ubiquitous soft stuff that passes for italian bread here.