Coming Soon To A Doomed Storefront Near You

Speaking of Italian restaurants, Susan Guyett reports in Thursday's Star that Pacers co-owner Herb Simon is wooing an upscale Italian place called Il Mulino, perhaps with an eye on having them go into the space recently vacated by Bertolini's, a quasi-upscale Italian restaurant that I think had been in place on the first floor at the north end of Circle Centre since the mall opened. It took thirteen years for Bertolini's to fold, but fold it did - as has every single non-food court restaurant without a street-level entrance that's taken a run at the downtown mall. Anybody else remember California Café, or that place where everything was made with turkey? Have a gander at the Il Mulino menu here - the link to it on their website is broken at the moment.

In other dubious food notes, the signature "food" of this year's State Fair has been announced: Deep fried (are you surprised?) bananas foster cheesecake on a stick. The other contestants included a hickory-smoked pulled pork sandwich with shagbark hickory syrup barbecue sauce, hickory-smoked beef kabobs, deep-fried maple latté, and maple twists on a stick. This year's fair theme is "Year of Trees," and all the food entries had to fit into that theme in some way - which makes one wonder how deep fried bananas foster cheesecake on a stick fits in, unless the stick counts.