The sweet aftertaste of success: local author eats it up
Deb Smit |
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Pittsburgh chef and foodie Mira Rinaldi is a woman worth meeting. Even though she's a work of fiction.
As the fiery co-owner of a chic trattoria in Meredith Mileti's new book, "Aftertaste," Mira is intelligent and steadfastly devoted to her family, friends and fresh ingredients. In the first few pages of the book, we watch as Mira goes on the attack.
She has just discovered her husband, Jake, sleeping with the restaurant's hostess, Nicola. With all the strength of her "hot-blooded Italian ancestors," Mira tackles them in bed and proceeds to yank out handfuls of Nicola's thick, dark hair by the roots.
It's a great beginning to "Aftertaste, (a novel in five courses)," the story of Mira's life after Jake leaves her for Nicola. (She winds up in anger management classes.)
Forced to relinquish her beloved Manhattan restaurant, Grappa, Mira packs up her young daughter, Chloe, and returns to her hometown of Pittsburgh where she moves in with her father, a Carnegie Mellon professor, and begins shopping and cooking her way back into healthier relationships.
Mileti has woven a vivid story from the threads of her own life in Pittsburgh. These are exciting times for the first-time novelist, Mt. Lebanon resident, wife of attorney David Cohen and mother of three. The book, released in September, has been praised by
Romantic Times and the
New York Journal of Books.
Mileti, now on the book-signing and book club circuit, joins several celebrated Pittsburgh authors, including Gwen Cready, at the first annual
WomenRead/Women Write event on Jan. 7, 2012, from noon to 4 p.m., at Barnes & Noble in Bethel Park.
"Pittsburgh is a terrific food town," she says, sipping a black coffee with a splash of cream in one of her favorite local coffee shops, Uptown Coffee in Mt. Lebanon.
(She has several favorites: 21st Street in the Strip, Aldo’s in Mt. Lebanon--which recently reopened as the coffee house Orbis Capulus--Espresso a Mano in Lawrenceville and La Prima Espresso in The Strip, which reminds her the most of Italy.)
"It's really exciting to see the new restaurants that are opening up, fresh ingredients, so much locally grown. I applaud what so many of these young chefs here are doing. "
Before Mileti picked up the pen, she was a developmental and educational psychologist with the School of Education at Pitt, where she worked as a research professor. It was while working on her doctorate, and tiring of tedious research, that she began dreaming up the story of a woman chef as a distraction. It took three years for her to write and finish "Aftertaste."
The story draws on her own friendships through the years as well as the delicious riches of our city: farmer's markets, butcher shops and bakeries; "fat-flecked" Mortadella sausages from the Strip, Mineo’s Pizza and corn beef sandwiches in Squirrel Hill, a deluxe double egg & cheese at Primanti's, biscotti at a fictitious bakery (obviously Enrico's).
As Mira pulls her life back together, she buys a loft downtown (The Cork Factory) and designs the kitchen of her dreams.
The character of Mira was inspired, partly, with the help of an Italian cooking teacher whom Mileti met in Florence when she was researching the book and learning how to make hand-rolled pasta.
"I told her I was writing a book about a woman chef. She said, 'make sure she's a strong character, no petite people. She needs to be strong emotionally, psychologically and physically.'"
Mira's fighting spirit resonates on every page. "In my opinion, there's a dearth of good, strong characters in women's fiction today," Mileti explains. "I got to know Mira as I went along. She fights for what she wants. And she's always thinking about her next meal."
The question arises, of course, is Mileti in fact Mira? The soft spoken, trim brunette--who is so kind in person that it seems unlikely she could raise her voice--weighs the evidence.
"Well, I've never been arrested!" she says with a laugh. "Mira's a little bit volatile and impetuous. I'm more controlled than Mira. I think we're both motivated by great ingredients and wonderful food. We share a sense that cooking is a way of expressing ourselves."
Like Mira, Mileti comes from a long line of Italian men who cook. She likes to experiment with food and play with a recipe rather than follow it exactly. She's addicted to biscotti and shortbread cookies. She knows how to roll pasta with a rolling pin, as we've mentioned.
Yes, there are a few similarities.
But the real point is Pittsburgh. The story hammers home that this is truly a great place to shop and eat food, she says.
"There are so many good restaurants: Salt of the Earth. I love his (Kevin Sousa's) space and what he's done, great dishes with interesting ingredients and innovative cocktails that aren't going to break the bank. I love Legume, Meat and Potatoes, Nine on Nine. Dish is wonderful, too and has great atmosphere. Wild Rosemary in the South Hills is also a terrific small restaurant run by a trio of talented women, including chef Gloria Fortunato."
It's so hard to narrow it down. Her advice: "Pittsburgh is a great food town. Get out there and eat."
Deb Smit is the innovation news and jobs editor at Pop City.
Photographs copyright Brian Cohen