I honestly think that there’s a spiritual thing to it when you make food with your hands and some generous intent, you end up being able to taste that in the final product.  The pasta especially catches a lot of that soul and intent and we want to keep that going.

Douglass Williams is a hands-on kind of chef. Rolling, cutting, and stuffing all of his own pastas.

We make our own pastas to control the quality to control the consistency.  I keep on trying new shapes and things that appeal to the type of sauces that I make.

And all of this pasta making perfection is happening daily at Mida.

Located on the corner of Mass Ave and Tremont Street in Bostons South End, Mida is an elegant eatery serving truly authentic Italian.

Mida means he gives me an Italian. And we want to translate that into generosity. And thats the pillar that we stand on, from how we price our food to our portion sizes to how we greet our guests and we hope that that translates all the way through the customer experience.

Its all happening in this stylish spot with big windows, a small intimate bar, and a bustling open kitchen.

You walk in, and you feel like youre in a little trattoria in Italy, or you feel like you could be anywhere in Paris or Europe. And its  quaint, its inviting, its illuminating. Its energetic, and that translates all the way to the food to the moment you walk out the door.

When you’re at Mida, pasta is obviously a must.

I mean, we’ve got the best pasta in Boston.  So I think were doing something okay, but we are trying our best to make sure we continue that and also elevate the standard for which we hold pasta to.

There’s hearty pasta Bolognese topped with Parmesano Reggiano, a pillowy ricotta gnocchi caccio pepe and a luscious lobster scampi served over fresh linguine.

Lobster scampi has the perfect blend of acidity, fat, saltiness and the flavor of the ocean. The capers give it salinity. The lobster gives you the luxury component. And the noodles are thin enough to not get in the way of lobster but just enough to hold up the dish and be a great complement to the rest of the ingredients. Tastes like heaven.

There’s Spaghetti tossed in a spicy jonah crab sauce and beautiful bucatini allamatriciana.

The buccatini amatriciana is a very classic dish.  We think weve managed that delicate balance of the sweetness of the tomato sauce, the bite of the pasta, the intensity of the pepper, and the saltiness of the guanciale, which is the base of that dish.

And if you want to try them all, get to Mida on a Monday.

Mangia Monday is the best deal in Boston.  We have it every single Monday, rain shine, holiday doesnt matter. Its all you can eat pasta for $35. You get all the handmade pasta that we make in house as normal, just in smaller portions, as much of it as you want and its one of our busiest nights.

Of course, Mida offers a menu lined with other Italian specialties.  There are massive boards of antipasto loaded up with all your favorite meats and cheeses. Crispy calamari fried up with pieces of mortadella, and cherry peppers. And and arrancini that will leave you speechless.

Once you bite into it, you just you have to stop and pause. You have to stop and focus on this arrancini no matter what youre talking about. Everyone just says, What is going on here? How do I get more and when can we come back?

There’s beautiful foccacia baked daily that youll to want to dunk in the Sicilian Mussels.

We do a Sicilian style pesto.  We take super ripe tomatoes, almonds, Basil, Parmesan, and we mix it all together with a little olive oil. And we toss it with the mussels in a bunch of preserved garlic.

They open up they release other juices and they just the salinity, the zestiness, the spiciness, the sauciness. Its all just makes so good and dip a nice piece of crusty bread in there. Its a must try.

Entrees at Mida are extraordinary. Whether you opt for the Roasted Chicken smothered in an Italian chimichurri and served over smoked farro. Or the Cioppino loaded up with plenty of fresh seafood.

Its just a seafood broth. Mostly tomato.  We do ours with shrimp, hake, mussels, clams, a little bit of saffron, a little bit of chartreuse and that all comes together on top of a piece of bread spread with charred onions.

And nothing sweeter than capping your meal at Mida with their house made gelatos topped with olive oil. And their decadent tiramisu with layers of goodness.

When you break into it with your spoon, you get the you get the lady finger, the espresso you get the marscapone moose and you get the crispness and then some saltiness on the bottom and you eat that and its just absolutely phenomenal.

And from start to finish, youll find your experience at Mida is beyond phenomenal.  Something Douglass takes very seriously.

At the end of the day, we want our customers to feel like they were taken care of by family. Both from the Kitchen and from the front of house. We want it to feel like they were just in a family setting that their attention was cared for at every step. And that that is a feeling that they want to repeat with more friends and more family and more loved ones.