Italian restaurant Dorsia opens on Brady

Tuesday is the official opening day for Italian restaurant Dorsia at 1301 E. Brady St., the longtime site of Mimma's.

Owner Jeno Cataldo, whose family runs Jo-Cat's Pub next door, said the restaurant launched with its soft opening over the weekend, after getting its liquor and occupancy licenses last week, and drew crowds.

Dorsia's menu is built in part for sharing, with a lineup of appetizers and flatbreads. Some of the appetizers are arancini ($7), prawns with roasted red pepper agrodolce and squid ink risotto ($13), fried eggplant ($8), cheese and cured-meat boards ($14 to $26) and crudo, raw scallop and hamachi with cucumber and citrus ($15).

Pastas can be sampled in flights of three or more or ordered in a larger size, such as bucatini with pomodoro and guanciale ($6 and $13), bolognese made with beef and heirloom-breed pork ($8 and $18) and sweet potato gnocchi with artichoke, rapini and romanesco ($8 and $17).

Salads include a chopped salad with hazelnut-crusted goat cheese ($14), and larger plates include veal spiedini ($19) and roast chicken ($19). Only two of the plates on the menu are more than $20, Cataldo noted.

Desserts such as salted caramel pudding ($8) and Meyer lemon custard cake ($7) wrap up the menu.

The chef is Scott Klenke, formerly of the Chef's Table, the fine-dining mostly private venue in Walker's Point; the bar manager is Kyle Simpson, previously of the Rumpus Room.

Wines number around 80, including four on tap and another 15 by the glass, including sparkling wines. Italy's wines are well-represented on the list, but the restaurant also pours wines from Spain, France, New Zealand and the U.S. The majority of bottles are less than $60.

About a dozen beers are on hand, with mostly local craft brews on the four taps. Dorsia also has some house-specialty cocktails ($7 and $8), including a Negroni and the Dorsia Daiquiri, made with Milwaukee distiller Twisted Path's dark rum.

Dorsia dinner hours are 4 p.m. to midnight Tuesday to Thursday, 4 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, and brunch from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and starting at 10 a.m. Sunday, served all day.

The restaurant is on Facebook, and Cataldo said the website will launch soon. Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations can be made by calling the restaurant at (414) 539-6826 or on OpenTable starting Thursday.