And so it continues ... a brand new set of tastes for 2017 ...
here's the NINETEENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA
(coming to you on sequential Thursdays. All. Year. Long.)!
Establishment: Dolce Salato Pizza & Gelato
Location: Wilton Manors
Meal: (late) Lunch
Drink: (Fountain) Coca-Cola
Appetizer 1: Le Polpette (Italian Meatballs)
(3 tasty meatballs made in house and baked in the pizza oven with their special sauce served with Ricotta cheese and Italian toasted bread)
Appetizer 2: Rosemary Garlic Cheese Bread
(served with special marinara sauce)
Appetizer 3: Slice of Meat Lovers Stuffed Pie
(italian sausage, pepperoni, ham, meatballs, mozzarella and provolone cheese)
Main: Parma Panini
(prosciutto, fresh oviline cheese, italian basil, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil)
Side(s): Dolce Salata (club special) with homemade blue cheese dressing
(mixed romaine hearts & spinach, ham, turkey, tomatoes, red onions & mozzarella sprinkles)
Dessert: n/a
Server: Silvia (as in the owner Silvia)
Website: http://www.dolce-salato.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dolcesalatofla/
If you are a regular reader of this series, then you know there's something that happens when we set foot inside an establishment serving Italian cuisine -- we tend to feast out a little. The only thing that kept us from filling up the table this particular time was the time of day we stopped in -- for a late late lunch. (Quick disclaimer: due to a delay with the publication of this blog, this review is being retroactively slotted in May 2017 but posted in May 2018 for a meal that was actually eaten and photographed in July 2017 [if you can follow that]). As a relatively new(er) addition on the northern end of the entertainment district known as "The Drive", the authenticity all around went a long way toward earning this establishment its spot in the A list:
AMBIANCE: 8/10 (small -- as in I think I counted only six tables -- but cozy, with extra outdoor seating available, this family owned business all but makes you feel as if you may be invited to join them as an honorary long lost cousin regardless of your ethnic background has authentic smells with all the good food being prepared and authentic sounds with Italian music playing in the background ... there's a point deduction only because it is a little bright and I feel it could be transformed with a little mood lighting and a second point comes off since it was rather warm the afternoon we ate -- either because we sat too close to the ovens or because the AC wasn't working at full capacity)
FOOD: 9/10 (at a place like this, the rule is that you shall know the quality of that which you are about to eat by the sauce -- and this sauce was obviously freshly made [obvious because of the bright red color of it] ... plus the meatballs were light and airy, the stuffed pizza slice was full of goodies and had a crispy crust that called for a knife to cut through it and that garlic bread was taken up a notch with the addition of the cheese AND the rosemary for an extra punch of flavor ... that panini was toasted all the way through, yet somehow was refreshingly cool -- and of course every ingredient on it was fresh ... the one and only mis-step [representing the point deduction] were tomatoes on the salad that weren't quite ripe and should not have been included and wouldn't have been missed if quality control had removed them)
SERVICE: 10/10 (when the owner herself is waiting on you, it's no surprise that she's invested in making sure that you feel welcome as soon as you set foot in the place ... but the pleasant surprise was how she went out of her way to be accommodating in letting us order just a few pieces of the special rosemary garlic cheese bread instead of a whole pie and how she properly set expectations that the single slice of meat lovers stuffed pie could take up to ten minutes to prepare -- which is, in my opinion, the proper way to handle a transaction from the perspective of your customers ... brava, Silvia, brava!)
BACON: 9/10 (like any non-Italian, I confuse prosciutto with pancetta when it comes to thinking about the Italian version of bacon ... but prosciutto is hammy enough and scattered enough throughout their menu to earn some points in this category ... PLUS actual bacon IS on the menu as an extra topping that can be added to the pizza ... the point lost is because although bacon is on the menu, it wasn't included as an ingredient in our meat lovers slice)
BONUS: 10/10 (+3 for that seemingly tiny bowl of salad that ended up like one of those Chinese food boxes that somehow has an endless supply, +3 for the authentic accents that all but assured you that the food would be authentic, +3 for a homemade dressing that should be bottled and sold on the side if it isn't already, and +1 for being a place to which we will most definitely return because we didn't even try the gelato!)
TroyScore: 46 out of 50 -- aka 92, an A
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