Round Up: Real Italian Cuisine Is Now Easier to Find

The Veal Milanese is a top choice at Rocco’s Italian Grille in Winter Park.

By Scott Joesph
Photograph by Eric Cucciaioni

Rumors to the contrary, I’ve always liked Italian restaurants. What I’ve never liked are the places that dump tomato sauce on top of pasta and proclaim, “That’s Italian!”

That’s not Italian, but that used to be the norm for the dining public in Orlando. Then, however, things started to change. Some restaurateurs who really knew Italian cuisine started dishing up the real thing and educating their patrons that Italian food didn’t necessarily require globs of red sauce – and it almost never called for heavy doses of garlic.

We now have a wonderful array of authentic Italian restaurants that serve everything from the creamier-style sauces of Northern Italy to the seafood specialties of the Ligurian coast to, yes, the tomato sauces of the south. Here are some of my favorites.

• Antonio’s La Fiamma, 611 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland. Most people never leave the first level of this two-story Maitland complex, because the casual downstairs deli serves wonderful dishes. But upstairs is a more formal – and recently expanded – dining room offering authentic Italian fare. The roast duck is a favorite, but if it’s available, the veal Milanese is the one to have.

• Rocco’s Italian Grille, 400 S. Orlando Ave., Winter Park. This easy-to-miss eatery is where Rocco Potami and his able staff serve some of the most authentic dishes in the area. Potami’s Milanese is also first-rate, but the bolognese sauce is what I always have if it’s on the menu, and I never leave disappointed.

• Enzo’s on the Lake, 1130 S. Highway 17-92, Longwood. Bucatini alla Enzo, featuring big, fat noodles tossed tableside with prosciutto, peas, bacon and mushrooms, was my favorite dish at this Longwood landmark two decades ago and remains so today. The ambience is homey, which is no surprise considering that the restaurant was once a lakeside home.

• Terramia Winebar e Trattoria, 1185 S. Spring Center Blvd., Altamonte Springs. This has long been a favorite of mine. Everything is good, but the antipasto table is especially impressive, consisting of such delights as spicy peppers; sweet roasted red, green and yellow peppers; soppressata and mortadella; buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes garnished with a sprig of basil; provolone and Italian olives. You can make a feast just with the antipasti.

• Trattoria Toscana, 521 Park Ave. S., Winter Park. Armando Martorelli oversees this small restaurant on the south end of Park Avenue. The sautéed calamari is almost like a Tuscan soup, while the pasta e fagioli – my favorite Italian soup – is also extra special.

• Caffe Positano, 3887 Lake Emma Road, Lake Mary. Eggplant rollatini is offered as antipasti, but it’s good enough and filling enough to serve as an entrée. If you must move on to the secondi, try the chicken mamma mia or the veal zingarella.

There are dozens of other really good Italian restaurants in the area. Sadly, we also still have some that are less authentic. You learn how to spot them. I remember coming across a restaurant that had a statue of a chef outside the front door, the figure holding a chalkboard on which was written, “This is a real Italian restaurant.” I had my doubts. It didn’t matter that I had spotted that particular establishment during a visit to Rome.