Due Amici

I've walked past Due Amici too many times to count. Since I always meet my buddy downtown for lunch, I figured that as due amici (two friends in Italian), we'd try it out for brunch.

I'm always a poor candidate for brunch because I hate breakfast food. The brunch menu was half breakfast items, half pizza and pasta dishes with a few other peninsular favorites thrown in to complicate my math. The dinner menu is larger and less egg-heavy. Despite my prejudice for early morning eats, the brunch menu did have some tempting-sounding options.

The interior is stylish and modern, with brick walls, black accents and white tablecloths. Due Amici are also open (gasp) seven days a week, which gives them my giant-pat-on-the-back award for downtown service.

The one hiccup that happened during brunch was that our pizzas took forever and a day to get out to the table. The server and floor manager graciously came out and explained the problem to me. I would have been very upset had he not given me the meal free of cost. My impatience for waiting was more than compensated by my strong desire to eat well for free. My complaints were minor, and I'm sure it will be ironed out by next visit.

My salad was baby greens tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette with red onions, crushed peanuts and strawberries. It was bright, fresh and flavorful.

The server was kind enough to tell me that almost anything on the menu, save for the items with meat already in them, could be prepared vegetarian. As a result I ordered the wild mushroom and sage goat cheese pizza minus the prosciutto. As with most Italian restaurants, however, there were at least a few vegetarian items on the menu that did not require special requests.

The pizza was larger than expected. It was larger than a number of other establishments that offer pizza for one and was more than enough to feed one person, even two people if it was shared with appetizers. The tangy acidity of the goat cheese was tempered by the mild mozzarella and the earthiness of the assorted mushrooms.

Despite the minor service setback which was more than made up for by the gracious service, most of brunch was enjoyable. I'll head back and try the dinner menu to make certain that the kitchen performance improves, but based upon the food quality, I'm sure it will. Check out the pictures below, and if you're stumbling around downtown looking for somewhere that is open on the weekend, definitely give due Amici a try.

Due Amici