Joshua Santangelo is making the leap from restaurant manager to chef/owner (with partners) at the new Fiorentina in Lake Worth. It’s on the site of one of the restaurants Santangelo managed, the old Prime 707, in downtown Lake Worth.
He describes the cuisine as contemporary regional Italian. “We’re like Paradiso but with a lower price point,” he said. He’s quick to say he is a fan of Paradiso, located a block away on Lucerne Avenue. “My cooking is all over Italy – seafoods are Southern Italian, but a lot is from Northern Italy, too.
“I grew up in the restaurant business in northeast Ohio, started at Albarini’s when I was 14, cooking. I’ve been running restaurants in Florida and New York City for the past 13 years,” Santangelo said. The time and opportunity were right for the opening of Fiorentina here, he said. “I like Lake Worth, it’s a cool city.”
Pastas, pizza and entrees under $35
Fresh ingredients go into traditional Tuscan bread soup, ribollita, and cippolata, an Emlian style onion soup thickened with egg. Pollo alla mattone – chicken under a brick, is a butterflied fowl, marinated in rosemary, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. It’s then splayed on a grill, and weighted by a brick for even cooking. Traditional pastas like spaghetti carbonara, and rigatoni with sausage and pea puree, gnocchi Bolognese, and lasagna al forno – with both bechamel and a ragu sauce – are on the menu.
Prices run from $7 for appetizers and $10 grilled pizzas and pastas; entrees range from $18 to $35.
They’re open for lunch and dinner daily, with a late-night menu and special Sunday family-style suppers.
Fiorentina
- 707 Lake Ave., Lake Worth
- 561-588-9707
- Open Monday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-2 a.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. for Sunday Supper, from 5 p.m. to close with regular menu.
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