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Changing colloquial expressions



   Miso, Omar, Mimmo, Amina of Cosmo Bar

     During the school year in Milan, Italy my daughter and I lunch out together most days at a local corner "Mom and Pop" place.  It is great way for us to "catch-up,"  catch any performance issues at school and quite frankly eat better than at school and home given the time constraints of our daily life and limits of my patience while cooking with one burner in our temporary home. 
     Yesterday we were dismayed to find out that our favorite "hole in the wall" will change hands October 10. Tabacchi Cosmic Bar at the corner of via San Luca and Via San Martino has been in the careful hands of Chefs Miso, Mimmo and Giorgio for more than twenty years.  I have witnessed fork in hand the constant care they take with the lunch crowd for more than half of hose years.  It is no "greasy spoon" operation with the usual slapdash grill and grind.   
     Head Chef Mimmo and his wife and friends, originally from Egypt, bring a North African atmosphere of calm graceful humor to the tavola calda,  Italy's equivalent of the American diner. They remain loyal to the very high standard of serving cucina casalinga recipes,  Italian "mamma's cooking," to Italians who compare each dish to their own mother's cooking. A new fixed menu of pasta, fish, rice, salads, green, veggies, fresh fruit salad, grilled meets and the ever present cutlets can make you feel right at home each week day.  
     Anyone coming in can pick and chose and chat while taking note of the A.C. Milan jersey from retired player Maldini hanging proudly on the wall. Chef Mimmo assured me that he would not abandon that to the new order. 
Cosmic Bar along with Pizzeria Olimpia, which recently moved to via Ripamonti, were two places where suited professionals rubbed elbows with construction workers, a rarity in the fashion center of Europe.  With an aging population and the upcoming Expo, Milan will see many places changeover, some for better, some for worse.  The cosmos will be forever changed without Cosmic Bar. 
UPDATE: October 13, 2014  Due to customer request, Omar, Mimmo and Amina are still there! They will see the restaurant through its transformation.  Our school lunches are safe, for now.