For many, Mulino’s is a highlight of the winter holiday season, with its Christmas carolers, animated figures, lights, and roasted chestnuts given to departing customers. The rest of the year, this classy spot is similarly festive. A grand piano, large bar, brown leather menus, and cushioned chairs give the masculine dining room the feel of a clubby steakhouse. Sconces stream light from the wood-paneled walls, illuminating the tablecloth-topped tables.
When customers are seated, they’re offered sweet or hot soppressata, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and fried zucchini to munch on while perusing the upscale, classic Italian menu, organized into antipasti, paste, insalate, pesci, carni, vegetali, and dolci. Try the roasted smoked buffalo mozzarella topped with mushrooms; jumbo shrimp pan-fried with sea salt and lemon; black linguine with baby lobster tails in tomato sauce; grilled swordfish with tomato salad; veal Milanese; or veal with porcini and white truffle butter. Desserts include homemade Italian cheesecake, zeppole, tartufo, peach Melba, cannoli, and tiramisu. In addition to dinner, Mulino’s serves lunch and brunch (don’t skip the Nutella French toast or cannoli pancake).
Both Fran Catalogna of Hawthorne, and Victor Vavolizza of the Bronx and New Fairfield, Connecticut, love Jimmy, the co-owner. Vavolizza says Jimmy is on top of the waitstaff and “doesn’t let errors slide,” while Catalogna says he “knows everyone and comes to every table…it’s a very special feeling.”
Vavolizza, a customer for 20 years, praises the “high-quality food,” including the spiedini alla Romana (deep-fried mozzarella-prosciutto sandwich with anchovy butter on the side), pasta cooked in a wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano, hot or cold zabaglione, and bresaola (air-cured beef) appetizer with arugula salad. It’s shaved so thinly you can “see through it when you hold it up,” he says. Catalogna, a patron for 15 years, calls out the seafood, including the Dover sole. “They’re open to trying new things for you. If you want something different, they will prepare it for you,” she says.
99 Court St
White Plains
(914) 761-1818
www.mulinosny.com
