Douglass Williams’ Mida Is Headed to the South End

Photograph by Toan Trinh

Douglass Williams learned to roll pasta from such legends as Jamie Bissonnette, at Coppa, and Paul Liebrandt, at New York City’s Corton. But stints in those kitchens gave him more than just a master class in technique: The way his mentors developed young chefs’ talents left a deep impression on him. They fueled Williams’s own ambition by encouraging cooking sabbaticals in Thailand, as well as in Michelin-starred Paris kitchens. It’s this culinary education that informs Williams’s first foray into restaurant ownership. When his South End spot, Mida—Italian for “he gives me”—opens later this fall, Williams, 32, aims to fill the dining room with the spirit of generosity. “I want to give people a feeling of elation. That’s part of what you’re paying for,” he says. He plans to do it with handmade torchio and linguini, vibrant eggplant agrodolce, and the rest of his Italian-inspired menu—including elegant dishes like a tilefish crudo brightened with lime and briny marrow squeezed right from the vertebrae. “Everybody knows this cuisine, and everybody has a little bit of their heart dedicated to it,” he says.

782 Tremont St., Boston, midaboston.com.

Grilled sirloin with Italian chimichurri from the upcoming South End restaurant Mida. / Photograph by Toan Trinh