Primo's primo Veal Milanese: Tender veal scallopine, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, gently sautéed in butter and topped with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, arugula and extra virgin olive oil.

PRIMO TUSCAN GRILLE Location: 116 Middleton Drive, at Providence Road Phone: 704-334-3346 Fax: 704-375-6293 Details: All ABC permits; corkage fee $10; restaurant available for private parties; off-premise catering available; casually elegant atmosphere; smoking and non-smoking sections; separate bar area; take-out (except for the carpaccio). Prices: Entrees range from $16-$24. Hours: Tuesday-Thursday, 5:30-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 5:30-11 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday.

One of the pleasures of writing a restaurant column is the opportunity to share great restaurant finds and dining out opportunities with my readers. This week we've got another winner in the Eastover neighborhood, on Middleton Drive, just off Providence Road.

Primo Tuscan Grille serves top-notch Italian five nights a week and is well worth your consideration for a visit for dinner.

The small upstairs eatery - just above the neighborhood pub and sandwich shop Five Steps Down - hasn't always been a restaurant - the space actually started as a tennis shop long ago. There aren't many people around who still remember that; in fact, most people will remember the space for its previous incarnations: first Ricco's, open in the mid 1980s to early 1990s, until it was closed due to a fire, and then The Happy Salmon, open ever so briefly, until Primo opened its doors in 1993.

As Charlotte grew, Pappas was ready to open an upscale SouthPark dining spot. About the same time, Alexander was ready to leave the country club and start his own venture.

Building their reputation
Yasser Sadek was at the helm at Primos from the beginning, after a long stead at the old Hemmingways on Monroe Road. Shortly after it opened, he was joined by Yosief Derar who worked the front of the house while Sedak ran things in the kitchen.

Of course, the place has had its ups and downs and several years ago, found its interiors to be rather dated. While the menu didn't change much, Primo underwent some big cosmetic changes. Newly done interiors, painted to look old and very European and a new logo updated Primo Ristorante into Primo Tuscan Grille.

Yosief Derar grew up in the country of Eritrea, which used to be a part of Ethiopia. Interestingly enough there were heavy Italian influences in Eritrea during Derar's youth, and in 1974, when he left his country because of the political situation, he already had a fondness for the foods of Italy. He first worked for 10 years in Miami and then in Boston for about 10 years, all the time in restaurants, learning the trade firsthand. Then, after coming to Winston-Salem to visit his sister, Derar, for reasons he really can't remember now, came to Charlotte. After briefly working at the Hyatt, he and a buddy heard about Primo, left the hotel banquet gig, and the rest is history.

RATING SCALE Excellent, a must try. Above average, worth consideration. Average, but nothing spectacular. Just okay. Poor, not recommended.

Why change?
Now, Derar is cooking up a storm in Primo's kitchen. A superlative waitstaff rounds out the team, making an evening at Primo a five-star event. Interestingly, after all these years, the menu at Primo has not changed much.

"Why?" says Derar. "No need to change what works. I only took off the things that didn't seem to sell - everything else people like." And, if people want something else, Derar and staff are glad to oblige if they can. For example, each week they make several orders of Veal Piccatta, and it's never even been on the menu. Everything at Primo is cooked to order and exceptionally well done. Ask Derar about his favorites and he will recommend the Carpaccio appetizer, paper-thin slices of raw beef tenderloin dressed with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and shaved Parigiano, or the Shrimp St. Thomas, a Primo classic of jumbo shrimp sautéed in a Pommery mustard honey cream sauce with white wine and shallots.

As for entrees, he'll go for the Seabass Francese or the Filet Gorgonzola, and Yosief concurs. The filet of seabass is simply sautéed in butter, lemon juice and white wine, while the beef tenderloin filet is an 8-ounce cut stuffed with Gorgonzola cheese and topped with a basil mushroom cream sauce - both are real winners.

Derar is also quite fond of the wild boar sausage. Not as gamey as one might think, these sausage links are served in an appetizer portion, grilled and served with a Dijon mustard sauce.

Ask me, and I'll suggest starting with the fried oysters. A good friend turned me on to these, and I've been ordering them ever since. Paired with the cobb salad, the duo makes a wonderful light and delicious supper. If you are in the mood for something a bit heartier, go for the veal chop, a 12- ounce cut served with wild mushrooms and a cognac cream sauce or the venison rib chop, dressed in a shiitake mushroom, sage and Marsala wine sauce.

Pasta choices
As far as pastas go, it's hard to go wrong with any of the selections, however, I recently tried the Lobster Ravioli and may have found a new love. Here, the pasta squares are stuffed with rich lobster meat then sauced with sundried tomato pesto, cream and garnished with long, thin, slightly crispy stalks of asparagus.

Other specialties worth a try (or two or three) are the Lamb Osso Bucco, a lamb shank baked with fresh vegetables and demi glace sauce served over a bed of garlic mashed potatoes and topped with fried onions - delish!; the Veal Hemmingway, a holdover from the old days back on Monroe Road, this dish features escallops of veal over baby spinach with shiitaki mushrooms, Parma prosciutto and peppercorns; and the goat cheese salad, a mix of field greens served with crumbled goat cheese, golden raisins, toasted walnuts and caramelized onions, drizzled with a light and flavorful raspberry dressing.

Escargot: With or without the shell?
Can it all really be that good, you ask? Well truth be told, there is one thing on the menu I'm just not crazy about - the escargot. Now, don't get me wrong, I love escargot aka small tender French snails, stuffed in the shells in a rich butter-garlic sauce with lots of good bread for sopping up the buttery drips. But the escargot at Primo are served a bit differently. Sauteed with sliced mushrooms, these tiny gastropods are served sans shell in a cognac mushroom peppercorn sauce - the same sauce, in fact, served over several steaks and chops at Primos.

The sauce is wonderful, but call me a traditionalist - although that would be a real stretch - I just think a snail needs its shell, and some garlic butter to go with. The happy news is the Yoseif says he's happy to make them that way as well; all you have to do is ask.

Heavenly tiramisu
No review worth its salt would be complete without dessert, and far be it for me to leave out a mention of the sweeter side of things at Primo. While there are several offerings - among them a tasty crème brulee raspberry cheesecake - no question, you should order the tiramisu at Primo.

The recipe came to Primo long ago, shortly after the restaurant opened. One of the employees then had a friend, an older woman, who was here from Italy. It's her family's recipe, and she came in the restaurant for several weeks in a row to teach then Sedak and staff how to prepare this traditional Italian trifle of sorts, which consists of layers of sponge cake, coffee and marscapone, a rich Italian cream cheese. The recipe has been passed down through the years and still remains a welldone favorite. The Food Lovers Companion, a food dictionary published by Barrons, explains that "the translation for tiramisu is 'carry me up' and many who taste this ethereal dessert assume the unspoken continuation must surely be 'to heaven.'" Not a bad way to go.

A must try: Melt in your mouth Lobster Ravioli, served with sundried tomato pesto, cream and asparagus.

Well-known Charlotte restaurant critic, food writer, cooking instructor and connoisseur of food and wine, Heidi Edidin writes "South Charlotte Weekly: Culinary Corner," a restaurant review or food feature that appears weekly. Contact Heidi with questions and restaurant, food or story ideas by email at heidi@southcharlotteweekly.com.

SCW photos by Sean Busher.

This article first appeared in "South Charlotte Weekly" on June 7, 2002. "South Charlotte Weekly" is a free, locally owned, independent newspaper that's "About the Community, For the Community," available every Thursday in South Charlotte and Uptown.

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