"Absolutley Fantastic" by DaJo (1 review)
July 02, 2010 - Living in Northeast has brought an amazing group of restaurants within the last three years or so- all with something unique. After the previous restaurant, Snap had left; we did feel we had lost an upscale pizza choice with delivery. When Amici opened in this year, we were paid back and given much, much more.

Not only do they serve and deliver fresh, creative pizza, but they offer a brilliantly prepared selection of pasta dishes, entrees, and irresistible desserts. My partner and I visited Rome and Florence in April. I have to say, Amici brings us back to that experience every time we go. The gnocchi dish in particular reminds us of a meal we had at a small cafe in Rome right outside the Vatican last Easter.

Saint Paul, MN

 3/8/2010

My friends and I went on the first Thursday that they were open so we were expecting a couple of hiccups. We were pleasantly surprised. The interior reminds me of Pop! (the restaurant two doors down). It had a similar layout and size, minus the extra room to the south. The décor was nice and the staff friendly. The manager even stopped to discuss their lack of wine list. It's a temporary problem, soon to be solved by late April when they get their liquor license.

We were seated quickly and were brought a large bread basket and butter. After contemplating the menu we decided to start with the Bruschetta Number 1 and the Baked Goat Cheese.  The bruschetta was two large portions of perfectly toasted bread topped with arugula, roasted beets, pistachios and orange segments. If you like roasted beets, this one's for you! It was a wonderful combination of flavors. But it was outdone by the baked goat cheese. Warm, whipped goat cheese topped with toasted almonds and served with a side of grape compote. All with crispy crostinis. DELISH!!! We were impressed that it was served warm. That made all the difference in the world.

We ordered a large "specialty" pizza topped with Oven-Dried Tomato, Spinach, Toasted Garlic and Fresh Mozzarella. The pizza was excellent, but I would expect that from a restaurant that uses the word "Pizza" in their name. It was a nice thin crust - not too crispy, not too chewy. The toppings were fresh and flavorful. Their pizzas come in small and large. The three of us snarfed up a large with a little room to spare. After all, we had to leave room for one of their half dozen desserts.

OK, so two desserts. And it was hard to choose from the list! We did the Buttermilk Panna Cotta and the Flourless Chocolate Cake. The panna cotta was the perfect consistency - a rich, creamy texture but not too heavy on the palate. It came with fresh slivers of basil on top. I've never tried that before, but it worked surprisingly well! The flourless chocolate cake was the best! We were fighting each other's spoons over this one! It was light and oh so chocolatey. It came with a salted caramel ice cream on the side. I now understand why salt and sweet make a perfect combination. Long story short - can't wait to go back!

Nicholas P.

Minneapolis, MN

3/7/2010

Walking into Amici the décor is urban, industrial, yet cozy with warming Tuscan colors.  Music is nice chill vibe with mostly classic Italian tunes in the background.  

The Cesar salad was fantastic!  Cesar salads can be hit or miss, and this one is a hit!  The house salad was a nice simple dressing, almost exactly the same dressing that my Italian family makes on a weekly basis.  

Pizza, very flavorful, the oven dried tomatoes were crazy sweet, spinach, mozzarella, and the roasted shaved garlic all came together nicely.   The crust is just right, half way between Pizza Nea, and Punch.

Baked Penne with breadcrumbs.  Once again the tomato sauce was amazingly sweet.  Maybe a bit too much bread crumbs for my liking.  It was a great dish for sure.    You know your getting what you pay for when you get such flavorful tomato sauce.  This means that they are not skimping on the type of tomato sauce; my guess is San Marzano tomatoes!

The highlight of the night for sure was the dessert.   We got the Flourless Chocolate cake with caramel salted ice cream with walnuts.   The Cake was not the extremely dense flourless cake that you typically find in restaurants.  It was more like that, mixed with a molten lava type chocolate cake.   So delicious, especially combined with the ice cream.  A couple weeks ago I had salted chocolate, at Pairings in Eden Prairie, which was amazing, now salted Ice Cream.  I know realize that salt, in the right proportion, makes everything better.

Next visit I will absolutely be ordering the Bolognese.   Oh man, maybe the braised beef.  Who knows?  What I do know is that I'll be back real soon!

They don't have their liquor license yet, so maybe you can bring your own bottle.  Might be worth it to ask them when you call to make your reservations.   I'd highly recommend reservations because this place is going to be filling up.  High quality food, high quality service.  Great space.  Solid NE neighborhood. This place has it all.  Let's hope they can keep it up!

larson 

03/08/2010 at 9:39 PM

Was wondering what brunch at a pizza place would be, but the bacon and egg pizza was the only “pizza place” item on the menu. It was as tasty as it was a cute idea. (“Cute” might not be fair; it was actually fairly sophisticated and perfectly cooked.) But the real showstopper was the french toast. Very sweet, with blueberry and creme fraiche, but delicious.

Kitty says:

02/27/2010 at 10:38 PM

Was there tonight- it was great! The baked goat cheese appetizer and the arctic char were amazing. Pizza is delicious. Do not miss the buttermilk panna cotta for dessert. It was dreamy.

Troy says:

03/01/2010 at 7:24 AM

I’m glad they are here…we ate there last night and the place was packed. My wife had the Bucatini and I had the Braised Beef in Wine Reduction, we had Blueberry Crisp and Chocolate Bread Pudding.

Good service, great decor and feel, tasty food and a good value…we live a block and a half up the street and love having a place like Amici in our neighborhood.
Highly recommend.

"Promising first impression" by cuisinequeen (1 review)
March 10, 2010 - Likes it - Went with a few friends for dinner about a week after it opened. Server was friendly & knowledgeable about the dishes. The ones she recommended didn't steer us wrong. The Bruschetta with roasted beets(?) sounded weird, but tasted great, but the warm baked goat cheese with toasted almonds & grape compote served with crostini won the show. My friend practically licked the plate clean. Our favorite entree was the oven roasted chicken. Done perfectly with a crisp to the skin, cooked throughout, but exceedingly moist. Parsnip potato puree added just a touch of sweetness and was creamy and delish. I got to take these leftovers home, and it was equally excellent for lunch the next day. Pizza was OK. I loved the mix of ingredients. We chose Oven dried tomatoes, spinach, toasted garlic and fresh mozerella. Crust held up well without being overpowering. However, I prefer to have either a yeasty dough crust (ala Punch) or a cracker crust (ala Lake Harriet) and this was somewhere in between. Ceasar salad was fair but the anochovies on the side were high quality without being drenched in oil which saved the day. The amount of dressing was perfect (so many restaurants drench their ceasar with too much). I think addition of home made seasoned crouton and shaved not shredded parmesan cheese could have elevated this to upper salad status. The standout of the evening was dessert, and here our waitstaff proved another big hit. Buttermilk Panna Cotta with orange, basil, & pistachio tuile. Having never known what panna cotta was, or a tuile, it had excellent combination of flavors. The panna cotta was creamy light and delicous. The addition of fresh basil and chopped pistachios would never have occurred to me to put them together, but they made the dish. And a light crunchy cookie (tuile) was the finishing touch. Then there was the flourless chocolate cake. Most flourless cakes I've tried are heavy and more like fudge. This one was full-flavored-melt-in-your-mouth cake. Wow. Great end to a very nice evening. Would have enjoyed a glass of wine with dinner. What's up when it takes a restaurant months to get a liquor license??

"Grade = A" by Foody (2 reviews)
March 08, 2010 - Likes it - Tried this new restaurant with friends on a Thursday night and we're already planning our return! The interior was warm and inviting with a friendly staff. We were seated within 10 minutes. Upon being greeted with a bread basket with whipped butter, we asked for the wine list. No wine list. What?! No liquor license yet! Seems the city of Mpls is slow to oblige because the former establishment didn't have one. But that should change sometime in April 2010.

We decided to share a couple apps, a salad, a pizza, an entree, and a couple desserts. The Bruschetta #1 was wonderfully unique, layers of flavors that work well together. But the Baked Goat Cheese stole the show! A light goat cheese, served warm with crostinis and paired with grape compote. It had everything - savory, sweet, crunch, mmm. We practically licked the dish clean!

Next was a Caesar Salad. Very good, flavorful (anchovies on the side for me!). Can't say it was the best Caesar I've had in my life, but no complaints either. We then shared the Oven Roasted Chicken and the Oven-Dried Tomato, Spinach, Toasted Garlic, Fresh Mozzarella Pizza. Good choices. The chicken was roasted perfectly - tender, succulent, great seasoning. The parsnip potato puree it was served with was delicious! On to the pizza - which was excellent. For me, a perfect pizza is comprised of a crust that has a rustic quality and toppings that cover EVERY bite. This did not disappoint! To be honest, I don't think I would ever "build my own pizza." The flavor combinations in everything from apps to desserts were so interesting that I'm eager to try the other specialty pizzas.

We finished our evening with a couple of desserts. There were SIX to choose from. We chuckled that there were more desserts than specialty pizzas on the menu. We decided on the Buttermilk Panna Cotta and the Flourless Chocolate Cake. BINGO! The panna cotta was served with orange segments and fresh basil, with a pistachio cookie on the side. I never would have thought of fresh basil with this combination, but it was so refreshingly light and tasty without being too sweet, that I think I'm going to steal this recipe. It was a pleasant surprise. The flourless chocolate cake was the recommendation of our server - and she was right! This was melt-in-your-mouth heaven! Sweet chocolately goodness with salted caramel ice cream was the bomb! Again, a plate licker!

The only bummer of the evening is that they don't have that liquor license yet (the only reason I didn't grade them an A+). Until then, we'll be mulling over the take-out menu, deciding what we want to try next. In the meantime, I could see this as a great place to top a night out with a great dessert over coffee. Can't wait to go back!

      princebaal Mar 03, 2010 03:56PM

           Wife and I ate there last night. The space is WAY nicer than Snap ever was. The weird wall drips are gone and the space has a nice, warmer feel to it. It is a bit strange in the fact that they have cloth napkins and two LCD TV's that you can watch while dinning. I found the TV's distracting, especially because of the mood the rest of the area creates. On to the food.....

We started with muscles for the appetizer. They were VERY good. They were larger muscles than I thought we would get. They were served in a red pepper type broth. This appetizer in both appearance and taste is on par with some of the best I have had in the cities.

Normally pizza doesn't follow muscles, but in this case I wanted to get right to the core of the business. We ordered a large pizza with prosciutto, mushrooms, bell peppers, and ricotta cheese. Upon arrival, the pizza size surprised me. It was smallish for a "large" pizza. Don't expect leftovers with two people. It looked to be cooked very well, and I liked the fact that the peppers were thin slices, not your standard "mini cubes". The prosciutto was good, although it could have been a bit crispier. The mushrooms were very tasty, and again, not your standard white button mushroom. I couldn't see or taste the ricotta cheese, but the server assured me it was melted in there with the mozzarella. The crust made the pizza. It was crispy and chewy at the same time, and very good. It wasn't cracker thin, but it was thin and reminds you a little of Pizza Nea and a little of something else. Sauce didn't stand out as being extra good or bad, and that is fine. Overall I would like to try more of the pizza, and get one to go to see how it travels.

Dessert. This is where it all falls apart. I had the pear blueberry crumble and the wife had the crème brulee. My crumble was not very good. I expected a distinct pear and blueberry flavor and maybe even something that looked like a pear or a blueberry. What I got was a mush of purple pears covered with a crumble topping of unknown content. It didn't taste like pears or blueberries and I did not finish it. It was topped with Izzy's ice cream that I did finish! The crème brulee had potential in flavor, but it was runny and not at all what a crème brulee should be. It was not finished either.

I like the new space; it should turn out to be a decent place close to home. I am glad to have pizza in the area again. It is basically the only non-chain pizza place with “normal” pizza. I like Pizza Nea, but not for an everyday “utility” pizza. At $50 after tax and tip it was a little pricey. I can imagine it being cheaper for just pizza, and more expensive if we order more entrées off the menu and when they get their liquor license.

dorajar

Amici Pizza and Bistro 

We've been watching this store front at 29th and Johnson St. NE with anticipation. Snap Pizza, its former occupant, closed its doors some months back, much to our dismay. We soon saw "Amici Pizza and Bistro: coming soon!" in the windows, and felt a spark of hope that the neighborhood might be regaining a locally owned, independent and delicious pizza joint.

It has gotten much more than that.

Amici opened its doors four days ago, to customers literally waiting eagerly on the sidewalk. We were not among the first lucky few to sample their wares, but we did make it in last night for dinner. We walked there in the lovely spring-like evening and were the first customers of the night. We were seated by the owner's brother, who told us all about the new restaurant and how it came to be, and answered all our many questions about the transition from Snap (negligent owner) to Amici (the new owner left his job as a manager for a sizable restaurant-owning company to renovate the space and start the new restaurant). They're still waiting on the beer and wine license from the city--one of the many hoops a new establishment must jump through, but hopes are high that it will be forthcoming soon.

And then we tucked in. I was expecting your typical pizza joint fare, with a few obligatory salad and pasta options. But the menu is much closer to something you'd find at the Northeast Social Club or Pop, next door. It includes such options as Tomato & Red Wine Braised Beef with polenta, escarole & balsamic reduction ($16) and Risotto with red beet and farro ($9), in addition to its delicious selection of specialty pizzas (Bacon, onion, thyme & grana padano, anyone? $11 for a small, $18 for a large). We started with a bruschetta appetizer, of which they have two. We went with the oil cured tomatoes and whipped ricotta option ($5 for two generous pieces), which tasted refreshingly of summer with its thinly sliced ribbons of basil atop an almost too-generous cloud of creamy, sumptuous ricotta.

Entree time. I was craving pasta, so my choice was easy. The orrechiette with arugula pistachio pesto and roasted cauliflower ($12) leapt right off the page at me. My date chose the oven roasted chicken with parsnip potato puree, roasted brussels sprouts and pancetta ($16).

My pasta was a hit.

Orrechiette is a cupped noodle, perfect for holding the richly textured pesto, made up of delicate pebbles of pistachio and smooth, peppery arugula. The roasted cauliflower added the perfect note of nuttiness, amplified by the shaved Parmesan. I licked that bowl clean.

The chicken dish was no less impressive.
Its warm, autumnal flavors combined to satisfy your very soul. This is a dish your mother would make to comfort you at the end of a hard week, if your mother happened to be a contestant on Top Chef. The brussels sprouts were expertly done: tender and nutty, while retaining their satisfying crunch. The parsnip was noticeable in the potato puree, adding an earthy note to what could have been your standard potato base on which to plop the chicken. The chicken itself was melt-in-your-mouth tender under the thinnest layer of crisped skin, and the whole thing was drizzled with a scrumptious, light brown gravy.

Food like this hasn't been within walking distance of the northeastern corner of Northeast Mpls for as long as I can remember.

This place even outdoes Pop, in my humble opinion. We will be back again and again, especially once they get their beer and wine license. The only thing our meal was lacking was the perfect bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Welcome, Amici, to the neighborhood. May you live long and prosper.