Mediterranean and "Medriatic" Restaurants in Milwaukee: Yaffa and Il Mito

The area that can call itself Mediterranean encompasses the edges of three continents, so Milwaukee residents and visitors are lucky that samplings of cuisine from these sunny realms are available in or near a greyish Wisconsin downtown. There's Yaffa, the truly pan-Mediterranean lounge, and there's Il Mito, an Italian-based restaurant that looks beyond the boot for some inspiration. The Mediterranean and "Medriatic" Restaurants in Milwaukee are both worth a visit.

1. Mediterranean and "Medriatic" Restaurants in Milwaukee: Yaffa Lounge
106 W. Wells St.
Milwaukee, WI
www.yaffalounge.com
414.223.0101

Claiming a focus on Spain, Morocco, and Israel, Yaffa (which means "beautiful" in Hebrew) serves a medley of Mediterranean foods in a rich, lounge-like interior with reasonable prices and polite service. Just up the street from the Mo's monopoly headquarters, this riverside eatery provides downtown Milwaukee with some much-needed flair, especially for the pre- and post-theatre crowd who'd find the Wells and Plankinton area otherwise limiting. Admittedly, some dishes at Yaffa are no more inspiring than those at a grab-and-go Middle Eastern place, including their phoned-in appetizers and the unspectacular layered Moussaka that a friend of mine ordered. However, other features, including both the hearty but subtle phyllo-dough Chicken Bastilla and the squash-sided Ostrich Tenderloin were pervasively and confidently flavored - light and heavy, all in one bite. If you order the right food and come on a weekend night (when the place isn't eerily empty), you may decide that Yaffa's restfully warm interior and diverse offerings indeed live up to the name.

2. Mediterranean and "Medriatic" Restaurants in Milwaukee: Il Mito ("The Myth")
605 W. Virginia St.
Milwaukee, WI
www.ilmito.com
414.276.1414

At 6th and Virginia, just across the giant white viaduct from downtown, lies Il Mito - or The Myth. The "Medriatic" restaurant (that's a combination of Mediterranean and Adriatic, for you slower types) provides an alternative to the flashy Walker's Point Mexican restaurants just down the street. Taking a standard Italian menu of soups, salads, pastas, and entrees, and then infusing more broad, regional hints into the dishes, the restaurant stands out from its purely Italian peers. For starters, I recommend the Zuppa di Fagioli, a standard bean soup that tasted as though it were painstakingly prepared by grandma from Pisa. Then, opt for the Coscia d'Agnello - a fruit-enhanced lamb entree complemented by a surprisingly textured potato-lentil tart (at $22, one of the pricier items). Il Mito's Iranian-born chef grew up in Austria and was schooled in the LA restaurant business, and while the story of the worldly chef is a trite one, the food is anything but banal compared to standard Italian cuisine. Diners will find that Il Mito definitely offers an Americanized Euro feel inside - beckoning and warm yet spacious and "otherly" - perhaps due to the tragically obvious painted planet ceiling. Despite a few flaws, this is a myth I'm willing to believe.