New Piatto Bravo Restaurant Offers A Creative Taste Of Italy
Piatto Bravo is a love story blended with a deep passion for traditional Italian food. Visions of creative and authentic dishes have come to life at the new restaurant, located on State Road 7 in the Village Green Center near Trader Joe’s.
“The food is authentic Italian, so our menu goes all the way from Northern Italy to Southern Italy. We cover the entire Italian concept,” owner Dominic Dipino explained.
Dipino and his wife, Chef Maria Amelia Baez, have a background steeped in Italian cuisine. While they grew up in the Dominican Republic, their grandparents, who hail from Italy, instilled upon them a passion for cooking and baking, with inspiration also coming from their parents. “We share the same passion, and we take it personally,” Dipino said.
Using only the freshest authentic Italian ingredients, Baez said it allows her to make innovative creations with hearty flavors.
“It’s very homey. When I thought of the menu, I thought of comfort food — what I liked having with my family at home. The Bolognese sauce, cheese ravioli. I love using Parmesan,” said Baez, who puts her own spin on the cheeses she uses. “I make my own blend of cheese. We grate different cheeses and make the blend here.”
The state-of-the-art wood-burning oven is the centerpiece of it all. Direct from Modena, Italy, it cooks pizzas evenly on a rotating floor at 600 degrees.
“We only work with wood. The perfect temperature is 600 for pizza. It cooks the pizza one hundred percent,” Dipino said. “We have pizzas with dates, goat cheese, caramelized onions.”
The pizzas come with a wide range of ingredients, from the traditional to the unique, like the Argentina pizza, which is topped with pomodoro, mozzarella, skirt steak and chimichurri aioli. Prices range from $10 to $16.
Guests can also create their own, first choosing pizza or calzone, then adding from an array of toppings that include seven cheeses to five different meats, including imported Italian sausage and pepperoni, topped with a choice of aioli. “We make our dough, our sauces and the aioli that go on top,” Baez explained. “We also have cauliflower pizza. A lot of people order it without cheese, just sauce and vegetables. People think it’s not going to be crispy, but it’s thin and crispy, made like every other pizza.”
Baez chose a number of gluten-free and vegan items for the menu, including zucchini pasta, with four dishes to choose from, like pomodoro zucchini noodles, to pesto, Bolognese and gamberoni.
All pasta is made fresh in batches each day on site. One of the most popular items on the menu is the signature dish Rigatoni di Maria, made with truffled cream, shrimp and goat cheese mousse with mozzarella au gratin. Dishes range from $10 to $18.
“We create at home,” Baez said. “We create new things. We live by it. When we’re not working here, we’re cooking at home with our kids.”
The restaurant space has been completely remodeled with a rustic yet modern flair, nestled with outdoor seating next to a courtyard complete with an oversized chess board and a tranquil waterfall. The trattoria seats 97, while the outdoor patio offers eight additional tables.
The couple, along with their developer partners, opened six restaurants where they grew up in the Dominican Republic. When considering opening in the United States, their partners had ties to Wellington’s equestrian community and suggested they expand here. “It was so warm and homey,” Baez said of the community.
The couple met early in life, while in middle school. Baez is no stranger to South Florida. She studied culinary arts and food service management at Johnson & Wales University in North Miami.
Baez then headed back to the Dominican Republic, where she worked under renowned Chef Ciro Casola, who guided her to the Culinary Institute Lenotre in Paris, where she received her specialty degrees in pastries and hors d’oeuvres. From there, she became sous chef at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami. During it all, she and Dipino rekindled their relationship and love of all things Italian. “We make magic here,” Dipino said.
The wide-ranging menu also offers risotto and paninis, as well as a number of desserts, including chocolate souffle and Toblerone mousse. A kids’ menu is also offered, as well as a daily lunch menu. It includes a large variety of homemade pasta, pizza and more offered Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. There’s also a full bar — cucumber martinis and espresso martinis are two of the specialties. Daily happy hour is from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. A full coffee bar offers cappuccino, espresso and more to top off your meal.
Hard work has paid off for Dipino and Baez, who are excited about how well the new restaurant has been embraced by the community.
“Sometimes, I can’t believe it. Believe in your dreams, work very hard. Never stop, even when things get tough,” Baez said. “This wasn’t easy. It took a lot of work and sacrifice. I have the best partner and team. We put a lot on hold. We do it out of love.”
The restaurant is open 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Delivery is available through Uber Eats, Delivery Dudes and DoorDash.
Piatto Bravo is located at 2803 S. State Road 7 in Wellington. For more information, call (561) 841-6983 or visit www.piattobravo.com.
