You can find out about restaurants in the weirdest ways. In Milan, I don't know anyone and don't…read moreknow much about the city. It's all a guess ... or it's McDonald's on Piazza Duomo.
Here I was, at Turin's Porta Susa intermodal station and, after entering the Metro area, a guy was having issues with his ticket and was asking me how it all worked. He assumed I was a local. I suppose that was flattering in that I wasn't mistaken for an "ugly American." When he ended up downstairs on the platform, he told me he was from Milan so I asked him for the name of some "real deal" Milanese restaurants that are popular with the locals. Amici Miei was at the top of his list.
Amici Miei is not that easy to get to. It's not near the main station or the Duomo. However, the Metro and a short tram ride will get you there.
Let me go to the food and then address prices, service, and more. I didn't know what I would eat, so the table next to me "decided" for me. The tables are close to each other and the two young ladies at the adjacent table, one Italian and the other American, had ordered the same dish. I told the server that that's what I'd order. It was a very large Milanese cutlet, which they term "orecchio di elefante" (elephant's ear). That's because the bone is attached at its outer end and gives it that look. The fact that there is a bone can be ignored because the cutlet is generous. It was excellent, not to mention filling, and was garnished with potatoes. For the beverage, I ordered a bottle of mineral water and, to make it last through the meal, I ordered it "gassata."
I had called Amici Miei to make a reservation. The person who answered was humorous and accommodating. When I went in, he told me that he had spoken with me on the phone. (Aren't phones great ... for what they were initially intended to do?) The server, the person who bussed the tables, and the cashier at the bar were informally friendly, which works for me. The place is in an older building, is not that roomy, and it must be popular because it was hopping on a weeknight. The fact that the Bocconi (Italy's equivalent of Harvard Business School, but with a higher admission rate) is a few blocks down the street probably sends customers their way. The price was a Milanese price, hence an urban Northern Italian price, and fair for the bountiful cutlet.
The name Amici Miei is sort of funky. If you said "miei amici," that would mean you're talking about your friends in casual conversation. Inverted, "amici miei" sounds more declarative in an endearing or formal way, as if standing in front of a room with a gavel or about to make a toast, and then continue with what you wish to announce. This helped me remember the name of this restaurant that the Milanese visitor at a Turin Metro station told me about.
