Dena Marino plates homey Italian goodness in the Design District

MC Kitchen really should've been one of the Fat Boys, but instead is the brainchild of star chef Dena Marino (Iron Chef America), who's back in Miami from Aspen, and brought a little of the ski-town feel (plus tons of pasta!) back with her thanks to warm Brazilian wood walls amongst modern touches like a striking, sharp-edged marble bar

She's basically taking the traditional Italian dishes she grew up eating and twisting them by using local, seasonal ingredients in eats like the showpiece "Piadena": housemade, herb-rubbed pizza dough that's baked in a wood oven with her own brand of Tuscan olive oil before being loaded with "salad" (hand-pulled mozz, chicken, pancetta), at which point it can (and should!) be rolled up and eaten like a burrito. There're also nine types of hand-rolled pasta, plus cured meats like bresaola and duck prosciutto, and a heritage breed Poulet Rouge, which's way more digestible than Moulin, and includes asparagus, wild mushrooms, and an over-easy farm egg

That massive marble bar's stocking 450 vinos and'll also be cranking out seasonal libations including shaken-to-order cocktails made with craft suds like Dogfish Head, herbs, wheat, cayenne, and fresh hops -- something that, no matter how fresh they became, the Fat Boys never really got to display.