At Mia Sorella the spaghetti comes with a homemade meatball and San Marzano tomato sauce.
I lunched with a couple of local food bloggers this week at Mia Sorella in Ballwin. The Italian restaurant, located in a shopping center on Clayton Road, has a large parking lot, but this day it was packed. I circled the area three times, along with the others competing for a parking places, before I snagged a slot.
While the area is lovely, it was a little farther down the road than I’m used to going for lunch. But my new friend, Alanna Kellogg, spoke glowingly of the menu, the owners, and the setting. You can trust a fellow food blogger; I knew the place would be well worth the trip.
Two local food bloggers: Alanna Kellogg of kitchenparade.com; Stephani Pollack of cupcakeproject.com and zestculinary.com visit with Jamie Komorek, co-owner of Mia Sorella.
Mia Sorella, a Sassy Little Sister
“Mia Sorella has been here since 2012,” Alanna said. “It’s the ‘sister’ restaurant of Trattoria Marcella.” (Sorella means sister in Italian.) I tilted my head with eyes squinted, lips pursed, the way one does when reaching into the recesses of their memory. The lights began to blink somewhere inside my head. I recalled eating at the Watson Road restaurant back in the 90’s when Mel and I visited St. Louis. We liked the food so well, we invited the owners, Jamie and Steve Komorek to cater the meal at the Governor’s Mansion for Mel’s second Inauguration.
Today the Brothers Komorek still serve fresh, inspired and traditional Italian foods. Now they divide their time between their City location and the Ballwin outpost.
Mia Sorella has the look and feel of a casual European restaurant. The comfortable, well-designed space provides an atmosphere in which to enjoy an array of classic pastas, pizzas, salads, and sandwiches. All are prepared to the usual high standards.
Mia Sorella’s Grilled Vegetable Panini with Insalata Mista ($11.99)
Photographing my bowl of spaghetti with the huge meatball on top.
When it came time to order, I took the suggestion of both Alanna and our server and chose the Spaghetti. It came with one meatball. But what a meat ball! It was nearly the size of a baseball! Stephani captured me in my usual pre-dining activity: photographing my food. The whimsical smile comes from recalling a popular song in the forties recorded by the Andrew Sisters entitled “One Meatball.” The funny little ditty concluded with the line, “You get no bread with one meat ball.”
Well, that’s not the case at Mia Sorella. Not only does your meal come with a platter of Italian bread, lunch comes with complimentary Italian cookies: orange flavored, pistachio, chocolate chip and Sicilian almond. The sweet treat leaves a smile on the face of happy diners.
Sicilian Tuna Salad over Mista Salad ($12.99)
“Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti.” So reads the quote from Sophia Loren that hangs above the kitchen. Sophia and I are about the same age, but obviously pasta has been kinder to her than it has to me. Even so, I think the restaurant owners, Jamie and Steve Komorek, should rename their spaghetti dish: “The Sophia Loren Pasta Bowl.” Women would eat it up.
The back patio at Mia Sorella overlooks a pond highlighted by a gaggle of geese. The secluded area is a great place to enjoy Italian comfort food in pleasant surroundings.
Mia Sorella. 14426 Clayton Road, Ballwin. Open: Mon-Fri 11a-10p; Sat 5-Dinner; Sun closed.
