A Trip To the Cleaners

Da Mimmo

217 High Street

Little Italy

Baltimore, MD 21202

4100-727-8776

www.damimmo.com

The lesson from this meal is that one should choose their dining choices during Restaurant Week carefully because what looks like a bargain at the $30 per meal price can be very deceptive. It was at Da Mimmo in Little Italy, Baltimore.

Granted, we expected a limited menu before four of us dined there on a week night; in fact we reviewed the menu on line before going there. Da Mimmo is a very popular restaurant and for good reason. The kitchen has a very flavorful way with food, the atmosphere is comfortable Meditterean and it is probably the only restaurant in Little Italy that offers free parking on its nearby own lot. Forgedaboud trying to find a parking space on one of these garlic perfumed side streets, the residents and valet parking vendor have collected them all.

The trouble with our trip started in a very inauspicious way just after we were seated when a server began our meal by pouring our table water from a bottle. I suppose bells and whistles should have gone off before the first drop hit a glass but we had come to relax and have a fine meal at a fixed cost, not worry about the house trying to slip one over on this. This was after a very troubling situation before our arrival when we were virtually trapped on Albemarle Street for ten minutes when a truck from a rental furniture company refused to move while the employees repossessed goods from a residence. In an age not too long ago I believe I would have tried to resolve that situation with something other than patience. Such must be life in the city in the 21^st Century.

To compound the injury, the wait staff continued to fill our water glasses from yet another bottle of imported water.  Shame on us for being so naive as to think that a restaurant would not add an additional $20 to the bill without asking first (alas, the water was no better or different than Baltimore’s tap water). The amount wasn’t a lot in light of the total bill but there was a basic dining etiquette violated here to my way of perceiving things. We were later offered garlic bread or bruschetta by our server and fully expected to pay an additional charge for it when we accepted the offer. The garlic bread was quite delicious, full of garlic &  olive oil and quite cheesy too.

We also ordered a very nice bottle of Nobile de Montepulciano red wine from pretty limited wine list. Be prepared to pay a minimum of $45 for a bottle of wine at Da Mimmo and wine by the glass was not offered. As for the meal, it had some extreme highs and lows for us. First I must comment that the list of specials the kitchen had available was quite impressive, albeit that none were on the $30 Restaurant Week menu. It showed a certain amount of creativity available from the kitchen but I detect it was also a ruse to detract diners from ordering beyond the limited menu at a considerable hike in the cost. This has not been my experience at other restaurants during Restaurant Week when most see it as an opportunity to put on their best faces to lure new diners throughout the rest of the year. The Lesson from Da Mimmo was, OK, nice meal but I won’t go back for more abuse thank you.

I have a real culinary aversion to cucumbers. Hate the damn things unless they have been transformed into a pickle. The smell of a cucumber alone is a turn off to me so anytime I order salad I ask that the restaurant make certain that cucumber not be added. Such it was at Da Mimmo and the server nonchalantly agreed to make sure my salad arrived without cukes. Unfortunately, while there weren’t any cucumber slices in my salad it still reeked and tasted of cucumber. Apparently the kitchen had made a large quantity of the salad in advance and simply removed the cuke slices from my dish. The rest of my salad, what I could taste of it, was pretty unexceptional.

We tried the full array of appetizers. The lady ordering the Shrimp Reganati was quite pleased with the dish. Those who ordered the calamari were similarly pleased but from a distance I would fault the incredibly small portion offered, although some would find it just fine. I ordered the sausage and peppers and was disappointed to find it consisted of a few slices of an unexceptional sausage in a non-descript concoction of olive oil, green pepper slices and diced onion.

From viewing my friends entrée of Orange Roughy I suspect that that particularly fish must be quite small compared to others in the fish tank. She loved it though so who am I to pass judgment. I ordered the penne puttanesca and it arrived as advertised, flavorful and the pasta was accompanied with cherry tomatoes, capers, olives and grated padano cheese. The portion would have made a nice side dish elsewhere. The remaining entrees to reach the table were a contradiction to everything else about the meal because the veal chops were enormous, cooked to perfection and as pungent as anything I have ever stolen off my wife’s plate. Go figure how the chef decided on those entrée proportions.

We capped our meal off with a few glasses of a lovely grappa, one of the tamest, smoothest I have ever downed. Yes, it added to the price of the meal but also to the moment. I would not warn readers off from going to Da Mimmo entirely because what they do with specials and the regular menu could be quite different from our Restaurant Week experience. Just be prepared to pay for it accordingly. At least the parking is free.