Dinner at Positano (Birkdale Village)

When I decided to move to Miami I had three criteria for my new home. First, it had to be close to an international airport in case I wanted a quick getaway. Second, the beach had to be no more than three hours away for when I got homesick for the beach. And third, there had to be good restaurants.

I made in the move in 2002 and have not been disappointed so far. Back then, fine dining was limited to Charlotte and South Park. Chain restaurants were the only options between exits 18 and 25 and the choices in Mooresville were Big Daddy's (for fried seafood), Midway Marina for breakfast (still on plastic plates) and Applebees (for a Ricky Bobby family night experience).

The choices are getting better in Mooresville (Soiree and Carusos) but even better at Birkdale. Not able to get seated at Dresslers this past Saturday night, my friend John and I ended up at Positano across the street. The 40 minute at the bar flew by as we sipped on a glass of Italian Chardonnay (should've gone with the Pinot Grigio) and munched on the (complimentary) crispy potato chips that called out to us from it's big silver bowl. The menu was simple, broken down into three main sections: appetizers and salads, pastas and mare e terra (sea and land). John is a great dining companion who doesn't mind sharing. This is a good trait to have in a friend for a couple of reasons. First, if you don't like what you ordered you could always eat theirs and second, by sharing you can try more new things. And that's what we did (and always do).

Before we ordered, the waiter (a patient man named Michael) brought us crusty bread with a white bean tapenade that was quite yummy. The crust of the bread was perfect for scooping up the beans and the softer inside of the bread was handy for soaking up the remaining olive oil on our plates. With that out of the way, we moved on to beef carpaccio, thin slices of raw beef with a heap of arugula piled on top dressed in what they called truffle aioli and finished with shaved parmesan. The beef was good, but the pepperiness of arugula combined with the sweet yet lemony taste of the aioli was heavenly.

We then shared the bucatini with pancetta, caramelized onions and pecorino cheese. They were kind enough to bring out two separate bowls of pasta so we didn't have to fight on who got more. The pasta is a thick noodle with hole in the middle (like a skinny macaroni). It was cooked al dente and the sauce was the right consistency to cling to the pasta. The tomato sauce was a balance of salty (from the cheese and pancetta) and sweet from the tomatoes and onions. I almost licked my plate clean (but we were in a nice restaurant). Veal Saltimbocca was next ... which is thin slices of beef, covered with a thin slice of prosciutto which hides the single sage leaf that adds tons of flavor. This was good but we were more impressed by the side of potatoes and caramelized onions. After all this, we still had room for dessert. Two ... bread pudding (which was flavored with figs and other dried fruit but was too dense for my liking) and toasted almond gelato. It was not too sweet and not too soft and had a little bit of texture (most likely from the ground almonds).

In addition to the great food, we had excellent service. Michael as I mentioned was very patient (despite our jokes about the daily special of Italian flounder) and did not rush us through the meal. Since we were going to Dresslers we brought our own wine which we were able to enjoy at Positano (no fuss, no roll of the eyes, nothing). And throughout our meal, Micheal and someone named David (he must be important) came by a couple times to see how we liked things and chit chat for a couple of minutes.

This was a great way to wind down to week especially without breaking the bank.