Lost in Lilydale at Osteria I Nonni

May 1, 9:17 AMMinneapolis Restaurant ExaminerTobie Nidetz

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Fillipo Caffari was a magician. His disappearing act as the Chef of I Nonni is proving to be too much for the kitchen to handle, gracefully. For 11 years, Chef Fillipo turned out a consistent array of classic and modern Italian food that you would really have to travel to New York or Rome to find a match. Justifiably this kind of mastery garnered I Nonni the dozens of awards proudly displayed in the entrance of the restaurant. Despite it's out of the way location, cognoscenti from the entire metro would find themselves drawn to the restaurant/market whenever the need for great Italian dining popped up in their lives. Owner Frank Marchionda somehow knew this when he relocated his Boun Giorno market while adding the somewhat formal dining space of I Nonni to out of the way Lilydale. For 11 years the formula worked....it's stopped working now.

Then menu is well thought our and seasonally represented, but the complete disconnect comes when the new Chef, a disciple of Fillipo, puts pan to stove. Each dish was overhanded and ill prepared as the one before it. Thankfully the dinner ended on a high note of excellent cheese selections form the market next door. (Not much there for the Chef to mess with). The service was impeccable and very concerned when for the first time in ages I actually told the server a dish was not up to par. A mushy pasta in an undercooked braised lamb sauce. They compensated in a very gracious manner with a special pasta of herbed ricotta ravioli in a braised goat sauce. Goat is unusual enough on it's own and was pleasantly surprised and pleased by the selection, thought the raviolis were totally undercooked.

I truly hope I Nonni is able to find it's way through this transition. We deserve to have a great Italian dining room, even out in the hinterlands. Theres a little Italian wave of new restaurants brewing in the Twin Cities. And unless some of these Chef's are from out of tow, I fear theres nothing more than Italian like food on the horizon for all of us in the Twin Cities.