Cuisine Review

They’re starving on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and need your help. Your taste and appreciation for inventive, superb food is vital to the existence of the chef and staff of Bragozzo at the Isle of Capri Casino in Biloxi.

You will find a desert island full of highly attentive, yet not overbearing service and the best food on the Coast. Valet park your car and walk immediately to your left when you enter. In the distance, hazily, a tower appears. It is a glass, two-story wine cellar that forms the entrance. Walk up and around this tower to another world.

You may be asking yourself why this place would need your help. Because no one knows about it, and many who do are arriving asking for the “regular salad,” misreading “arugula salad,” or are having to be told that Caesar salad does not come with ranch.

A slight problem having your food appreciated when you are making fresh pasta every day, and the head chef has developed a complete menu based on many years spent in Rome and Venice. I do not want to sound snobby or too cynical. However, unfortunately, many visitors to our casinos just head for the buffet. I merely want to make the point that Bragozzo is a place that if you go to once, you will make the drive often. You do not have to be well-versed or well-educated in regards to food and the staff is anything but snooty. They are welcoming and educated. Let me prove to you why you should hop in the car and make that hour drive.

An expansive open kitchen bustling with activity and flaming grills arrests your eyes as you step into the space. Vaulted ceilings and walls painted in warm tones, dim lighting, banquettes and colorful paintings bring serenity. Twice recently I had dinners that lasted over two hours, but seemed to go by much more quickly.

Two servers arrive that are your very own. Both are educated in the restaurant’s food and wine. One knows more about wine and liquors, the other focuses on your food. They do so effortlessly and casually – you only see them when necessary or when you glance their way. The wine list is extensive, impressive and affordable.

At first the menu is overwhelming. It is separated into antipasti, appetizers and salads, “handmade” pastas, fish, and meat. You are encouraged to share the first courses, and do not pass up splitting pastas that are perfect for a bite before your entrée or on their own as an entrée.

To begin, we sampled crespelle ($12), a wild mushroom and tallegio cheese crepe, topped with arugula and aged balsamic. Baby white mushrooms were scattered underneath the delicate mild cheese crepe, with peppery lettuces, and sharp after-bite of balsamic. If you only get one appetizer, select this one.

However, their tuna carpaccio ($13), thinly sliced raw tuna of the best quality, is drizzled with a kicky calabrese chili oil. A basket of pasta chips are brought to your table when you sit down, slightly fried sheets of pasta with parmesan and spices. They are heavenly, but only eat one. The sausage polenta and pasticciata ($7) is a piping hot crock of the best “breakfast” dish ever – baked fresh, true Italian sausage and polenta with melted gorgonzola.

On to the pastas – when is the last time you had real, made-that-day pasta? It makes all the difference. On the first visit I thought we were crazy for selecting carbonara ($17), my all time favorite pasta dish. I am used to it being thick, heavy and filling. But it was not at all.

Bucatini pasta, cream, pepper, pancetta and pecorino cheese was light, slight and thick – not heavy. In Italy, and here, I learned that sauces do not contain copious amounts of cream or butter. The sauce is made quickly, with a small amount, the pasta becomes the thickener. Heavenly clouds of truffled cheese ravioli sat in a warm puddle of cognac-foie gras cream when our agnolotti ($24) arrived. We loved it, but afterward we found ourselves talking about the ravioli ($24) that sounded just as good. So, we got it.

You do not want to stop eating when you are here, and your meal is stretched out in perfect timing. Wild mushrooms were stuffed into the raviolis with a walnut butter, watercress and shaved parmigiano – oily and nutty; this would be superb for an entrée.

The entrees range from a mixed grill for two ($50) of grilled snapper, shrimp and scallops with an oregano bread crumb crust and salmoriglio sauce, a 14 oz. bone-in filet ($42) with cabernet braised potatoes and roasted vegetables or a pork chop Milanese ($39). However, we had the stars at our table.

There is an “aqua pazza” dish ($29) that is a whole roasted fish (speckled trout the nights I was there) in “crazy water”: garlic, chilies, tomatoes, celery, potatoes, olives, herbs, white wine and olive oil. The server places a fish fork and knife before you while they sever the head and tail, returning the fish to this spicy, bold broth.

Two had the lamb chops scottaditto ($34) – five grilled, “finger burner” lamb chops, baked roman style gnocchi and mint jelly-fruit mostarda. These lollypop lamb chops were a perfect medium rare, tender and not a gamey taste in evidence. Roman style gnocchi is made from Semolina flour and is cut into squares – decadent. The mint jelly was minimally sweet with preserved fruit. I had the beef short ribs ($32). Words will do no justice to their tenderness, marsala wine sauce, one touch of the fork and the meat fell into a juicy pile.

The day after I ate there I met Luke Palladino the chef/owner. He is an interesting, humble man with great stories. But let the food make his talent evident. Call; get a reservation; drive a pleasant, quick drive, one that you will not make to lose money, but to savor every dollar spent at this casino.

Listen when I tell you this is the best restaurant in this area.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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