Have you noticed how new Little Italy restaurants are less traditional than the old ones? Milan (1000 Eastern Ave.,410-685-6111, OneMilan.com), which opened a couple of weeks ago where Luigi Petti was, advertises itself on the edge of Little Italy and Harbor East, so it's clearly trying to appeal to two separate audiences.

The new Italian-slash-Mediterranean restaurant is a far cry from the comfortable, family-owned southern Italian places that used to be the standard for Little Italy. The 12,000-square-foot space has three contemporary dining levels with 275 seats, a bar/lounge on the main floor and a sushi bar.

Run that by me again?

I know I've said in the past that sushi is the new pizza, but somehow I don't expect to find it in an Italian restaurant. Apparently, this is a fusion of Italian and Japanese creations, with selections like white tuna with lemon oil and pine nuts. There's even a Milan Rotolo, made of avocado, sun-dried tomato, fried calamari, nori, seasoned rice, white tuna, yellowfin tuna and pesto with a blood-orange balsamic glaze for $18.

As for the main menu, Chef Stephen Carey is preparing elaborate dishes such as ravioli deconstruito (lobster, crab, shrimp, and Swiss chard in house-made pasta with a pink peppercorn cream sauce) for $28 and bistecca con l'osso (a 20-ounce USDA Choice bone-in ribeye with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and "melted" leeks) for $42. You get the idea.

What Milan doesn't have, it turns out, is pizza; but there are flatbreads with toppings such as Margherita.

Carey has an unusual background for someone turning out Italian food. In Charleston, S.C., he worked at a French brasserie and Park Circle Grill. After he moved to Baltimore, you could find him in the kitchens of Brewer's Art and then Lucy's Irish Pub.

As for the decor, Milan's main dining room on the second floor has white leather couches, marble tables, espresso-colored floors and scarlet snake-skin faux finishes on the walls.

Like I said, not your parents' Little Italy.

Milan is open for dinner nightly from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. with a late-night menu offered from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The restaurant also has a lower-level cafe and wine bar, Intermezzo, open daily from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Centro The restaurant space at 1444 Light St. in South Baltimore has been empty since Bicycle closed abruptly last July. Now George Dailey, the owner of the On the Hill Cafe in Bolton Hill, is planning to open a tapas bar there.

I know what you're saying. Wow. Another tapas bar.

But Dailey promises something new.

"It will be a casual upscale place, if there is such a thing, not stuffy, and as affordable as we can make it."

He says his new place, Centro, will be "a modern take on Spanish and Latin American tapas" and offer "ingredients not usually used here."

Dailey was raised in Venezuela, although he was born in England. "My background in cooking is Spanish and Latin American," he says.

As for parking, a serious problem for those who don't live in the immediate area, Dailey says there will be some valet parking, probably on the weekends.

Centro should open sometime this spring after renovations.

Korean barbecue Honey Pig Gooldaegee Korean BBQ will be coming to 10045 Baltimore National Pike, in the shopping center behind the Double-T Diner, continuing the trend of Korean and other Asian restaurants opening in the Ellicott City/Catonsville area. Its sister restaurant, Honey Pig in Annandale, is hugely popular and open round-the-clock. If the new place is anything like it, it will be designed to appeal to a younger crowd than Shin Chon Garden in the same neighborhood.

New Zeke's Zeke's Coffee is opening another retail location at 4607 Harford Road where Grind On Cafe used to be. This won't be a coffee shop, says owner Thomas Rhodes. "We're inventing something new," he says. "We're going to play around and have a good time."

That will involve the opportunity not only to buy coffee by the pound, but to sample different coffees and different ways of brewing. "Minimal food" will be available. Details aren't worked out yet, but the new Zeke's should open next month. Hours are likely to be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

Deal of the Week Where: Blue Agave, 1032 Light St., Federal Hill

The Deal: 2 for $20 (appetizer and entree), plus half-price bottles of wine

When: Tuesdays

Call: 410-576-3938

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