By Mark Goldberg
Giacosa has gone through numerous changes in recent months. Yet, it has kept some of the signature dishes from the time when the talented executive chef Alfredo Alvarez designed the menus and ran the kitchen. The menu, changed as recently as this month, still features his signature stuffed onion and funghi extravaganza. The homemade pastas are still light, the fish fresh, and the risotti al dente.

Actually, there’s another Giacosa in the Dominican Republic. And that’s where Alvarez is spending most of his time. However, he’s still consulting with his longtime sous chef and new executive chef Alexis Pimentel, who has returned to Giacosa Coral Gables after a tour of duty at Il Piacere.

The room itself is a little warmer, much of the artwork has been changed, and a handsome, well-furbished wine unit runs along the main wall. At lunch, the curtains are drawn back to let bright daylight into a dining room full of executives who are promised a fast but complete prix fixe menu ($10.95).

Creative appetizers
The cipolla ripiena ($9.95) remains a unique starter. The center of an oversized sweet Spanish onion is hollowed out and filled with a shrimp and lobster mousse. The bulb is then gratinéed and placed in Giacosa’s brick oven – the final step for most of the menu’s items – before being splashed with lobster sauce. Gelatto di patata ($10.95) is cleverly presented: a tall martini glass is filled with quick-seared plump shrimp glazed in a balsamic and apricot reduction that turns to a chewy brittle hardening over the rim, served with crispy potato shavings.

In addition to carpaccio di bue ($9.95), drizzled with truffle oil and covered with aged parmesan shavings; carpaccio di portobello ($7.95) over a tomato coulis; there is involtini Trevisano ($8.95), featuring radicchio leaves stuffed with goat cheese in a cucumber bed; and grilled shrimp skewers ($10.95) with mango relish. Crispy potatoes, an evening special, was a blini-like presentation of goat cheese wrapped in thinly sliced potatoes, deep fried and heightened with a coulis of truffle oil, olive oil and lime juice. Another signature dish, the funghi extravaganza ($10.95), is a take on the standard caprese. Rather than simple mozzarella atop beefsteak tomatoes, chef Pimentel first places a grilled portobello on the plate beneath a beefy tomato. He tops that with crispy-fried prosciutto and a layer of melted mozzarella. The dish is finished with balsamic vinaigrette.

Rich pastas, elaborate entrees
Pasta has always been a treat at Giacosa. Our spinach ravioli ($17.95) was stuffed with veal mousse, light in texture and rich in flavor, and topped with an aromatic sage butter sauce. Tortelli aragosta ($19.95) is a delicate pasta shell filled with chunks of sautéed lobster in a light scallop and crab flake sauce. The tortelloni alla melanzana ($16.95) features wide pasta pillows stuffed with a velvety eggplant mousse drizzled with a demi glace and truffle gravy which on the night we tried it was a bit too salty.

Risotti are a highlight. Among those listed, standouts are the black risotto al nero di seppia ($22.95) and the seafood risotto ($21.95). Risotto al porcini ($19.95) was a perfectly al dente and creamy Arborio rice fragrant with thin slices of earthy porcini mushrooms, a touch of parmesan, a bit of olive oil, and just the slightest truffle essence.

Meats and fish are elaborate creations. The veal chop ($28.95), a grilled 14-ounce beauty, was juicy and tender, flavored with a demi glace that hinted of truffle essence and the earthy fragrance of ground porcini mushrooms. Likewise, the tournedos Rossini ($29.95) was an excellent 14-ounce grilled filet mignon, sweetened with an apricot glaze and topped with foie gras. Pan-seared snapper fillet ($19.95) was finished in the brick oven. Its creamy creamless sauce was an enticing blend of roasted red peppers, lime juice, olive oil and a touch of garlic. Another evening’s special was a corn flakes-crusted snapper prepared in a sweet, tangy honey-ginger sauce over a bed of sautéed spinach and mashed
potatoes.

There is no dessert menu. The waiter recites selections that change at chef Pimentel’s whim ($5.50 to $5.95): a cake-like white chocolate soufflé with vanilla ice cream; lighter-than-air cheesecakes with a variety of flavors, from dulce de leche to mango; coconut flan; and a delicious freshly-baked puff pastry apple tart redolent with cinnamon, tart apples and raisins, and topped withvanilla ice cream.

Mark Goldberg is a dining critic and a freelance copywriter.