Whine not, wine lovers... Il Mercato Café & Wine Shop is here.
The 3-week-old establishment is the brainchild of restaurant vets Mike and Emily Lynch. (He: certified sommelier formerly of such local spots as Bar Rosso and Govind Armstrong's now-deceased Table 8. She: chef from a
family of restaurateurs who's cooked all over Europe and was once exec
sous at Table 8.)
The café and retail shop features some 60
wines from throughout the world, says manager and fellow sommelier Uri
Serrano, with a focus on boutique wines from Old World (read: European)
producers. And as a welcome antidote to the extortionate wine markups
South Florida restaurants typically inflict on their customers, wines at
Il Mercato are priced the same both at retail and in the dining room.
Speaking
of the dining room, it's open for weekday lunches, Sunday brunch, and
daily dinner. The kitchen's motto is "eat global, dine local," which
translates in your mouth as everything from a brunch version of the
classic salad Lyonnaise and Italian "porchetta-style" pork sandwich to
lunchtime offerings like burger with American cheese and chickpea salad
with red peppers, arugula, and curried yogurt dressing to dinner dishes
like smoky jerked chicken with corn flan and a half-chicken with
spaetzle and Riesling jus.
As for the place itself, it's got a
cozy Euro-bistro feel. Sixty seats, indoors and out, terra cotta tile
floor, brick archways, earthtone colors, small bar. Sounds cool. Check
it out. No whining.
