Elisabetta’s Ristorante Bar Pizzeria Update

I thought you all would appreciate an update to my original post about Elisabetta’s Ristorante Bar Pizzeria, since we had a return visit.

Our second visit to Elisabetta’s Ristorante Bar Pizzeria

As I mentioned recently, Steve had been under going radiation treatment for Prostate Cancer. He had his last treatment on November 9 and wanted a great dinner to celebrate. The day before, I thought he’d enjoy Elisabetta’s, since we said we wanted to eat more of their amazing food. Before I had a chance to suggest it, he said “You know where I’d like to go?” So I answered with Elisabetta’s, and he freaked out! That’s what being married for almost 55 years does. It puts you perfectly in sync!!!

Our evening

From our first visit in early September we talked about going back for more of those unbelievable meatballs. So before we even got to the restaurant we knew we were ordering those. But we had not tried their wood fired pizza and thought we should.

We were a little early for our 8 pm reservation, and it was a Thursday, so we got to enjoy the live music of Clematis by Night. When the band took a break we walked back to Elisabetta’s and shared a martini until our table was ready.

It was a perfect November evening in South Florida to dine outdoors. At this restaurant the patio is huge, romantic and fabulous. We were seated outside! The al fresco setting could not be prettier. Your view of Flagler Drive is obscured by lush plants and reeds. Just across from the restaurant if Palm Harbor Marina which offers a great view of the mega yachts docked there. The locations is ideal for dining under the stars. But, if there are no stars, there are plenty of twinkle lights on the gazebo and foliage to make you feel like it’s a starry night even when it’s not.

We ordered the Meatballs languishing in their pool of garlicky San Marzano tomato sauce (see photo in Original visit below). For our second appetizer we had the Coccoli Fritti which consisted of little pillowy breads to fill with freshly made ricotta and paper thin slices of prosciutto. After tasting their ricotta I am forever spoiled. I guess I will just have to make my own ricotta from now on!

Following our two very filling appetizers we shared a Funghi Misti pizza, and it was the perfect choice for us since we are true mushroom lovers. The airy crust was toped with smoke buffalo mozzarella, parmigiano reggiano, tons of wild mushrooms and a drizzle of truffle oil. It was so fabulous that we had to eat every last morsel. Sadly that left us no room for dessert.

Original visit to Elisabetta’s Ristorante Bar Pizzeria

This Labor Day Weekend was celebrated by joining dear friends for a fabulous dinner at Elisabetta’s Ristorante Bar Pizzeria, in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida.

Downtown West Palm Beach has changed dramatically in the few years that we have been traveling. New hotels and condos have seemingly popped up overnight. When we first moved to South Florida in 1982, West Palm Beach was a sleepy town with a deteriorating downtown. Over the decades it has become an exciting destination filled with great restaurants, a state of the art performing arts center, art galleries and museums galore and lots of wonderful new boutique hotels.

Back in the day we moored our first boat at Palm Harbor Marina in the heart of the downtown waterfront area. It was beautiful, but the places for dining were few and far between. Usually we needed to cross the Intracoastal to Palm Beach for anything exciting and new. Boy oh boy, has that changed!!!

Now a days there’s so much going on that downtown West Palm Beach has become an amazing tourist mecca that locals enjoy as well.

Elisabetta’s Ristorante Bar Pizzeria is just one of those new and exciting places downtown. We chose to dine indoors in the cooling air conditioning, but their patio dining is romantic and overlooks Palm Harbor Marina. But on a steamy summer night it was just too muggy for us to enjoy dining al fresco.

Though Elisabetta’s has a very casual, tropical vibe, they take their food seriously. The menu options are quite extensive and EVERYTHING on the menu sounded amazing, including the artisan cocktails. In fact, the Grapefruit Martini kept calling my name. My Grapefruit Martini was made with E11even  Miami Vodka, St. Germain liqueur and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice all working in perfect harmony to make a very tasty concoction.

Our waiter started us off with some freshly baked bread and luscious, grassy olive oil with herbs. We added an appetizer of Meatballs resting in a sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes and sprinkled with a good dose of Parmesano Reggiano. It’s a good thing we had that bread because that San Marzano sauce was so delicious that we needed to sop up every last drop with it. Oh, just in case you were wondering, they were some of the tastiest meatballs I’ve ever eaten. I’d have been happy with a big plate of them all to myself!

Our friends who dine at Elisabetta’s often, both said that they like to try a different entrée each time they dine at Elisabetta’s Ristorante Bar Pizzeria. This time they both ordered the Radiatore alla Norma. Radiatore pasta, shaped like little radiators, has lots of nooks and crannies to hold the same amazing sauce as the meatballs. Plus it was loaded with eggplant and ricotta salata.

Steve ordered the Linguine con Vongole (linguine with clams), which is a favorite dish of his. The pasta dish was brimming with fresh, steamed clams in their shells, along with a flavorful sauce of white wine, garlic and Fresno chiles. He was so intent on devouring every morsel that he never even offered anyone a taste. But since all of our dishes were so extraordinary, no one offered to share theirs either.

I’m a bit biased. plus I didn’t taste any of the other pastas; but I think I ordered the best dish of them all. I had the Cappellini e Calamari or angel hair past with squid in American. The tender rings of calamari were carefully grilled to perfection. Add to that their fabulous San Marzano sauce and Calabrian chile peppers and you have a dish made for the gods.

And, though we know that it’s taboo in Italy, we all had our server grate lots of fresh Parm on our dishes. Speaking of grating, we thought the grater they used for the cheese was about the coolest one we had ever seen. I loved that it produce lots of long shreds of the the King of Cheese, easily and efficiently. Now I am on a search to find one like it!!!

After dinner we took a stroll over to one of the new boutique hotels right across the street from Elisabetta’s. The Ben is a stunning new addition to downtown West Palm Beach. We took the outside elevator directly to the rooftop pool area. It was abuzz with lively music and conversation. But a little bit too noisy for us “old folks”. So we decided to check out the rest of the top floor.

Lo and behold we found the Blue Heron Ballroom. As former caterers, Steve and I were quite curious about the size of the room, so we all went inside the empty ballroom and discovered the best spot in the hotel. The ballroom balcony was outfitted with comfy chaises where we could relax and enjoy the spectacular view of the Intracoastal all the way to the ocean. A balmy breeze kept us cool and Steve got to stretch out on a stunning rattan and cushion chaise abutting the glass wall of the balcony. It was the perfect spot to catch up with friends after a wonderful meal at Elisabetta’s Ristorante Bar Pizzeria in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida.