At 62, actor Danny DeVito is taking on a brand-new gig: restaurateur. DeVito South Beach, a snazzy Italian chop house on Ocean Drive is open and executive chef Francis Casciato has created a menu heavy on fresh seafood and prime meats like super-lean Kurobuta pork from Japan. The signature item: a Kobe ''flight,'' a trio of steaks from Japan, Australia and the United States for a cool $325. DeVito South Beach has also concocted its own red sauce made with famously flavorful San Marzano plum tomatoes grown in the volcanic soil of Italy's Mount Vesuvius.
BY VICTORIA PESCE ELLIOTT
velliott@MiamiHerald.com
Sweet or smarmy? When it comes to Danny DeVito's over-the-top Italian chophouse, it's a tossup. Much like the cranky but loveable characters the diminutive actor plays, this 2-month-old tourist attraction can be annoying and endearing in equal measure.
And make no mistake: DeVito may epitomize the little guy, but this place is for big spenders. The signature entree, to serve two or three, is a $325 trio of Wagyu beef, and cuts of prime, corn-fed Nebraska beef are priced from $44 to $72 for a 28-ounce porterhouse. While I have happily redefined credit card "limits" for a great meal, the experience here hasn't quite lived up to the hype so far.
For those who like this kind of thing, it may be worth checking out for some amusing eye candy as well as a handful of worthwhile dishes made with top-notch ingredients.
DeVito and partners David Manero and Michael Brauser spared no expense on the modern piazza design, a beehive of activity with more than 300 seats on two levels and a patio.
It's elegant in a glitzy way, with marshmallow-soft, leather-like booths set off by stunning red chandeliers. The soundtrack is retro crooners from Frankie Valli to Frank Sinatra, and DeVito movies are looped on flat-screen TVs.
The staff is personable and well-trained, letting you know, for example, to expect huge, shareable portions on salads, pastas and fried calamari. A doorknob-sized ball of burrata bursting with milky curd is one the freshest I've sampled in town. Other dishes, however, like an exquisite Sardinian bluefin tuna crudo dotted with baby bay scallops, yield only a few forkfuls.
The big, buttery, complimentary popovers might have been the answer to my wildest carb cravings if they hadn't been served stone cold on both visits. The also-gratis antipasti board of soppressata, fried zucchini, stuffed cherry peppers and gorgeous Parmigiano-Reggiano is a nice touch -- perfect with a good Chianti. Problem is the stunning, 400-plus bottle wine list is more marked up than a overzealous tattoo artist.
The biggest downfall with most of the dishes I tried was sugar overkill. Even an oddly vinegared Caesar salad was sweet, making the gorgeously briny pair of anchovies taste off.
Luscious and expertly cooked cuts of meat, from a sleekly marbled bone-in fillet to a center-cut New York strip, are destroyed with a sprinkling of something called DeVito Dust that tastes like a mixture of cayenne, sugar and some kind of bitter herb. A Wagyu short rib ossobuco-style is so laden with ricotta and wine sauce that one could hardly get to the meat, let alone taste it. A thinly pounded, hanging-over-the-plate veal chop Parmigiana is also overwhelmed.
The best meat dish might be the meatballs -- incredibly soft, juicy and flavorful but, like many dishes here, piled high with bread crumbs and drenched in a spicy tomato sauce spiked with -- you guessed it -- sugar.
Our waiter gave us the hard sell on the gnudi, a sort of naked ravioli made rightfully famous by Mario Batali, but instead of ethereal puffs we got thick spinach and ricotta knots deluged with vodka-tomato sauce.
By contrast, the seafood was a treat, including a delightful branzino topped with a warm frisée salad, cranberry beans and grilled lemon -- a refreshingly light choice among so many belly bombs.
The kitschy Festa Di San Gennaro, a dessert trio of cotton candy, a banana zeppole and caramel cheesecake lollipops, would most appeal to 4-year-olds. A butterscotch budino (pudding) was satisfying if rich and achingly sweet.
