Tuscany duck breast, polenta and asparagus at Tuscany Grill in Suntree. / LYN DOWLING/FOR FLORIDA TODAY
Tuscany Grill
★★★★½
(good to excellent)
Address: 7640 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne
Hours: Lunch starts at 11 a.m. Sundays through Fridays. Dinner service begins at 5 p.m. daily
Info: 321-757-7220 or tuscanygrill.net
Other: Private rooms and catering available; comprehensive wine list; extensive use of locally produced foods
About reviews
Restaurants are rated on a five-star system by FLORIDA TODAY’s reviewers. The reviews are the opinion of the reviewer and take into account quality of the restaurant’s food, ambiance and service. Ratings reflect the quality of what a diner can reasonably expect to find. To receive a rating of less than three stars, a restaurant must be tried twice and prove unimpressive on each visit.
★ Not recommended. Don’t bother.
★ ★ Fair. While there’s nothing special about this establishment, it will do in a pinch.
★ ★ ★ Good. A reasonably good place with food and service that satisfy.
★ ★ ★ ★ Very good. Worth going out of your way for. Food, atmosphere and service are routinely top notch.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Excellent. A rare establishment to which you’d be proud to take the most discerning diner.
Each reviewer’s visit is unannounced and paid for by FLORIDA TODAY.
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Tuscany Grill had to be visited.
It wasn’t so much the quality of the food, which always has been top-rate, or any change in décor or menu items, but a new chef, the youthful, effervescent, exceedingly brash Chris Morales.
In an interview, he explained what he has done and was capable of doing at Tuscany Grill. It was a really entertaining conversation, because he spoke of everything from gastronomy (he loves to play with infusions and inventions), wine (he is not a sommelier but says he knows what he likes and that’s all he needs) and formal training (he has none, but has worked in kitchens since earlier in his youth). He also put out some pretty plates for the pictures.
But the truth is on the palate, and so came that visit that was a lot less social than Morales realized. It was going to be one of those “Go back to school, kid” days.
It didn’t work out that way, because in the end — after that day plus a couple more meals — the humility belonged to the reviewer. Morales is as smart as he says he is.
To be fair to all concerned, he has not made any changes to Tuscany Grill’s fine, relatively simple menu. It still has homemade flatbread ($7); Veal Acropolis ($19) with its artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives and red peppers in a wine sauce that’s just lemony enough and just buttery enough; and the best eggplant rollatini ($14) in town. It hasn’t forgotten that fantastic homemade bread and a really unique Italian wedding cake ($7). It hasn’t dumped some of the best salads on the Space Coast.
But Morales has added certain unique touches to the restaurant’s specials, and he has brought a little of his favorite sort of cooking — he likes to fuse Asian and Spanish, and he’s really big on texture — and thereby made a fine restaurant finer still.
If you dine at Tuscany Grill, you know what you’re going to get, and consistency is so important in this age of changing tastes and struggling chefs. Excellent. But more excellent if you tell Morales, “Just make me something.”
In this case, Morales started with an artisanal cheese tray ($13) that would have provided a meal in its own right, so comprehensive was it. Someone must have told him an Anglophile was in the house, because in this case, much of the contents of the tray was British or British- inspired, including Gloucester, an Irish cheddar, a rather dry but perfect-for-the-occasion blue cheese and a cranberry- infused Stilton.
They were served with merlot jelly and flatbread, as well as candied walnuts, which a fellow diner said were “unbelievable” because of the combination of flavors: a little cinnamon, a little butter, a lot of crunch.
Next came bruschetta ($10), two good-sized slices of homemade bread covered with mounds of ripe tomatoes, red onions, basil and goat cheese dashed with balsamic vinegar. If you go to Tuscany Grill for lunch, you can order the bruschetta and a soup and still have a meal.
But Morales wasn’t finished. Next came seared Scottish salmon served over a beautifully dressed spinach salad, topped with shaved prosciutto. The combination of flavors and textures was simply exceptional.
Finally, the piece de resistance (special pricing; this was $17): duck breast on shallot polenta served with almond-grilled asparagus and dressed with a fig reduction, which also dotted the end of the plate.
This was served to someone who is no great fan of duck because it is done so badly so often, but here, it was perfect: served rare and drizzled with just enough fig sauce. The polenta was beautifully done, and the asparagus were tender, with the slightest hint of almond.
Some modern food presentations are cute and some are smart. Tuscany Grill’s presentation is smart; definitely not window dressing. These were nicely presented plates. Less is more.
Dessert wasn’t necessary, although Tuscany Grill’s are very good, including a tiramisu ($7) that puts most others to shame.
While we were dining, we noticed that many of Tuscany Grill’s customers were ordering typical pasta dishes or salads. They made fine choices, no doubt. But this is a restaurant that deserves a look beyond the norm, so the next time you go, treat yourself to something special. Ask Morales to make you a meal. You won’t be sorry.