By: Skip Sheffield
The new, improved Pellegrino’s at 3360 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton, has just been getting better and better.
This is the same fine Italian restaurant that enjoyed a run in Deerfield Beach from 1999 to April, 2010. After a breather, owner-chef Bobby Pellegrino began looking for a larger, more upscale location. He found it in Boca Raton next to the popular Asian restaurant, Gary Woo.
We recently paid a third visit to Pellegrino’s. With every visit the service is smoother and the ambiance is enhanced.
“We always try to improve,” said Bobby Pellegrino. “We have loyal customers, and they deserve the best.”
Bobby Pellegrino’s restaurant pedigree goes back to his youth in New York City in East Harlem. His family had a popular Italian Restaurant called Rau’s on E. 112th Street. It was there Bobby Pellegrino served his apprenticeship in the Old World School of Southern Italian cuisine.
Diners get that same Old World feel at Pellegrino’s Boca Raton location: winking lights, vintage photographs and paintings and video monitors that play scenes and music of Italy. There is a distinct New York in the 1950s kind of vibe.
“I spent 20 years in New York, working and learning the restaurant business,’ Pellegrino recounts. “I had a place in Oceanside, New York before coming to Florida. This restaurant is the culmination of everything I have done.”
Pellegrino’s is a family business Pellegrino runs with his wife Denise (who is famous for her desserts) and his son. The restaurant had a soft opening last November. The menu and décor have been steadily upgraded.
On our first visit we had a very young waiter named Ricardo Lopez. We learned Ricardo started as a busboy at the Deerfield Beach operation. He was still pretty green on our first visit, but on our most recent visit he was polished and professional.
Pellegrino’s has a wonderful way of cooking fish Southern Italian style. The nightly special was yellowtail snapper on our most recent visit. My companion had hers “Alla Marechiaro,” sautéed with clams and mussels in white wine. I had mine “Alla Livornese,” with white wine, capers, anchovies, onions, black olives and plum tomatoes and herbs. It was very fresh and absolutely delicious.
Most cold or hot Antipasto at Pellegrino’s are big enough for two. There are five kinds of Insalate (salad) made with the freshest ingredients. Homemade pasta is a specialty, with a dozen varieties offered. You can have your Pollo (chicken) “Limone” or “Scarpariello” (garlic with hot cherry peppers, sweet vinegar red peppers and hot and sweet sausage).
Vitello (veal) is another specialty, offered Parmigiana, Francese, piccate, alla Marsala, Milanese Caprese, Sorrentino and of course Pellegrino, splashed with balsamic vinegar from Modena, Italy.
Meat eaters can enjoy veal chops, pork chops and sausage, steak and a half-dozen varieties of Gamberoni (shrimp).
Pellegrino’s is Zagat-rated as one of the Top 100 restaurants in South Florida. Doors open at 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday.