Long Island Restaurants

Il Mulino

The epic of Il Mulino begins with gratis chunks of Parmesan cheese, rings of dried sausage, garlic bread and a saute of zucchini.

The legend continues with a rapid-fire recitation of specials, and delivery by an army of captains and waiters. Reality arrives with the check.

For decades, Il Mulino has been a popular fixture in Greenwich Village, where the crush of customers, the speed of service, and the oversize portions of satisfying Italian food are rivalled for the unsuspecting by a tab that carries more jolt than a double-espresso.

The grandiose style and familiar substance have been imported from West Third Street to Northern Boulevard. The image is intact. Accordingly, Il Mulino immediately is one of the region's toughest reservations. The place is packed at each seating by the devoted, the curious and those content merely to be here before anyone they know.

Of course, the fare can be quite good, and the restaurant's entertainment value shouldn't be underestimated, either. But the lingering question after every meal is the same: Is it worth the money?

No.

Even if you can afford to be indiscreet with your discretionary income, there's something irritating about dropping $36 for veal Parmigiana this side of Las Vegas. In all, figure to spend $125 to $150 per person, with one of the house's less-expensive wines.

If, however, reading the menu and wine list from right to left is an alien experience, you'll easily digest Il Mulino's pleasing pastas and move on from there, relishing the near-communal, high-decibel social scene and party atmosphere as much as your entree.

This had been the address of Classico, a respectable Italian eatery. The dining room has been overhauled, decorated with a polite mix of the serene and the glitzy. While waiting for your table, you may observe a great wheel of Parmesan, from which countless pieces are excised nightly.

And that cheese, plus those other antipasti, could add up to an appetizer itself for the frugal or surprised diner. The official starters include first-rate scampi oreganata and stracciatella, the Roman egg-drop soup with spinach.

Bresaola, or air-cured beef, is all right. Likewise, the langoustines, Sardinian imports first presented tableside and then sent out sauteed around a mound of flavorful risotto, delivered with perhaps the third or fourth "bellissima" of the night.

Spaghettini Bolognese is very good, as are the cannelloni, herbaceous trenette al pesto, pappardelle with sausage, and especially the porcini ravioli in a Champagne-cream sauce, with microscopic flecks of black truffle. Capellini Il Mulino, a pink-sauced affair with peas, prosciutto and tomato, trails these, as does the pasty spaghettini alla carbonara.

Osso buco is routine, a bit overdone, paired with heavy- duty saffron rice. The veal chops Valdostana are big and boring. But saltimbocca, the Roman classic of veal seasoned with sage and layered with prosciutto, is a superior alternative. Those ample veal chops Parmigiana are well cooked and are about as good as the dish gets. Tender filet of beef alla Romana is sparked by a zesty caper sauce.

But lobster materializes buried in a landslide of overpowering garlic sauce, as unpalatable visually as it is to the taste. There are better ways to invest $65. Branzino, or sea bass, finished in a salt crust, is on the dry side. Dover sole meuniere: overcooked. Shrimp fra diavolo, however, is appropriately fired up.

There's creamy, mascarpone cheesecake, a textbook tiramisu, and satisfactory flourless chocolate cake, berries in zabaglione and poached pears.

The fruit finale of oranges spiked with white wine is highlighted, if the term can be used, by the equivalent of tableside, open-citrus surgery -- painful enough to endure in itself, but more revealing as the dutiful carver receives a public reprimand from one of several overbearing overseers. The reason: wrong fork.

Given that the overall service at Il Mulino can be as erratic, brusque and ill-timed as it is superficially smooth, the high command must have more concerns than this guy's choice of implements.

By now, you'll want that free shot of grappa or limoncello, with bottles taken from a handsome, ice-filled piece suitable for Champagne.

Your drink has been paid for many times over.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 10/24/04.

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