Perricone's Marketplace & Cafe

Perricone's Marketplace & Cafe Restaurant Review:

Proprietor Stephen Perricone's huge gourmet market/eatery has been strategically perched beneath an oak grove in the center of downtown Miami's Brickell business district since long before the area was even safe to stroll, much less a destination-dining hot-spot. Actually, the charmingly rustic building looks and feels as though it's been here since nineteenth-century Miami's pioneer days; Perricone imported the wood to build his marketplace from a dissembled barn in Vermont, and screens instead of windows, like an enormous treehouse, enclose the dining room. The aroma of imported salumi and cheeses (plus dairy-rich house-made mozzarella), however, and the sight of a wealth of cannoli, sfogliatella and similar pastries, signal that the food is solid NY-style Italian American. Best bet are pastas, both simple (sauced with zesty homemade marinara) and fancy (fiocchi "beggar's purse" bundles stuffed with fresh pear and Gorgonzola, with creamy Gorgonzola walnut sauce). While still a popular eat-in or take-out business lunch spot, Perricone's is especially packed for Sunday brunch (which starts early, at 9:30 a.m.). For dinner on Thursdays, all pastas, including the famed fiocchi, are just $10.