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Primavera Restaurant
830 East Oakland Park Blvd.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
(954) 564-6363
www.trueitalian.com
Hours 5:30 to 10:30
Open on Sunday in Season
Capacity: 148 seats
Fine Dining Experience at Primavera
By Elena Sheverdinova
Chef Giacomo Dresseno and his staff are devoted to the goal of maintaining Primavera Restaurant as one of South Florida's finest dining establishments.
Tastes of Primavera
By
Eternal summer of southern Florida is not all heat and sandy beaches. If you choose to experience flavorful freshness of Italian spring you may be pleasantly surprised that you really do not have to go overseas to do so and instead indulge in fine dining experience in Primavera restaurant, which name translates from Italian as “springtime”.
Called “a restaurant with an unusual lineage” and “a little heaven of elegance” it is definitely an Oakland Park’s landmark of gourmet Italian cuisine and flawless service that comes somehow unexpected in the heart of a strip mall that has gotten less attractive over time.
Before going to dine there we met Chef Giacomo, an incredibly enthusiastic restaurateur, who possesses passionate and generous personality, and asked him several questions. He was giving one of his cooking classes at the moment we arrived and it gave us a chance to see what a special experience the lucky apprentices were gaining. The class was informative, fun and tasty with wine accompanying every dish plus a birthday cake for one of the students at the end. We were seated in the same room at the bar with an offer of a drink and were able to enjoy the spectacular presentation by the Chef.
The restaurant has three rooms (the central one is bigger than two others) divided by the walls with the wide window-like openings, which serve also like extra spacing for exhibition of various wines arranged in attractive ways on them. Eclectic iron rod wine armoires and nicely set half around the room perimeter wooden ceiling shelves filled with wine bottles provide a promising atmosphere of a genuine wine tasting with your dinner. Flowers, plants, terra cotta accents and other fine decorative elements combine to form an elegant, romantic dining experience.
Our interview with the Chef took place immediately after the cooking class and was marked by his openness and vivid expressiveness.
Interview
Voyage Entrepreneur: Chef Giacomo, everything has its starting point, so, how was it with Primavera, why fine dining only, why here, why Italian, where did all these ideas come from?
Chef Giacomo: Well, let me give you a bit of history from an insider. Primavera when opened in December of 1986, was the brain child of 2 very experienced waiters, Paolo Peretti and Carlo Dellepiane, both from Northern Italy and with years of experience working in cruise ships and fine restaurant abroad, and later in 2 very successful (at the time, and later closed) Italian restaurant (Paesano in Las Olas and Frankie in the Intercostal). I guess the place was modeled a bit after these 2 restaurants with some twisting to increase quality of service and food. When the restaurant opened it was a very good success story, pretty much it was very hard to get in (The restaurant was half of the size it is now!). In order to be more genuine they went to Italy and after several interviews they hired a very talented chef, Aldo Rabottini, to insure a more realistic Italian food versus the competition. The restaurant was expanded in 1989, and again in 1995 with the lounge/smoking room, to accommodate the increased number of clients.
Voyage Entrepreneur: So, you are not the original founder?
Chef Giacomo: No, I was hired in 1991 to replace Aldo who went back to Italy for personal reasons; at that time I spent only three years in America.
Voyage Entrepreneur: And how did you become the sole owner of Primavera?
Chef Giacomo: Oh, but I am not actually. One of the partners, Paolo, deceased in 1992, and the other, Carlo, died in 1996. The restaurant was managed for a year by an estate attorney, and began to loose business for the lack of personal attention and investments in the upper management. In 1997 I together with my wife Melody was able to purchase a 50 % of shares of the restaurant. It is a partnership with a foreign shareholder Anna Dellepiane, a sister of the deceased Carlo, so the restaurant is still involved with the original ownership.
Voyage Entrepreneur: How different is it today from the original Primavera?
Chef Giacomo: The place went through several changes; one of the most elaborate was the desire to expand our wine selection, from 75/80 selections in 1995, to over 300 wines all pretty much sampled by me, and I normally am the person in charge of the wine program. This year our wine list was awarded the award of excellence by the Wine Spectator.
Voyage Entrepreneur: Chef, you have a very extensive wine list. How do you choose the wine?
Chef Giacomo: Normally wines are chosen based mainly on taste and relation of quality and price, also sometimes I introduce wines for the desire to have a certain range of offering many grape types, or wine from certain growing region/countries. The main factor is normally a must have wines such as Ornellaia, Caymus, Spottswoode, Sassicaia, Gaja wines, and the others are our new offerings with a very good quality/price relation. Also, our wait staff tasting and wine dinners are a part of the wine program.
Voyage Entrepreneur: So, would you agree that your wine list dictates your concept?
Chef Giacomo: As for the concept it is based on a very high quality of food where the basic ingredients are the key, such as the "filetto pomodoro" or fresh tomato sauce, where we are still using only fresh tomatoes and no can tomatoes; or the homemade ravioli or agnelotti, while a lot of competitors are opting for industrial products based only on price point concerns. Also our setting is different where patrons are not on top of each other and where space is abundant between tables. And, of course, our attentive service with staff having many years of experience in this business plays important role for our concept, and no first timer will be left to take care of your special needs. We are also very accommodating when it comes to special requests, and if ingredients allow us we always try to create the customer request.
Voyage Entrepreneur: Being an Italian restaurant how would you characterize your menu?
Chef Giacomo: The menu is a classical Italian but with many twists with a touch of globalism and also consideration of the Florida setting, mainly with the daily specials. The goal is to give the customer the best we got at any given time. So the whole concept is based on the Italian mentality where dining is not just eating but a social moment and for many people quality time where friends and family get together and socialize of course with the help of some good wine.
Voyage Entrepreneur: With such stable reputation of a fine dining establishment do you feel that competition is anything but to worry about?
Chef Giacomo: There is nothing stable about restaurant business. Intrigues like, you know, in politics are similar to the ones in the world of wine and food… And, yes, we have competitors. The main competitors are: Casa D'Angelo, Anthonys Runaway 84, Angelo's of Mulberry street, Buongusto, and Café Martorano locally. Many more restaurants in Boca and North Miami with good food quality and service are my direct competitors too as well as many other places with sometimes lower pricing are also able to attract part of our clientele looking to spend a bit less.
Voyage Entrepreneur: It does not look like this area has too many upscale restaurants, however.
Chef Giacomo: There is an abundance of Italian restaurants, and sadly a large portions of the dining public does not appreciate upscale establishment, they are more concerned with the size of their portions (It is hard to imagine how anybody can eat so much without becoming overweight!) and, of course, they are always looking at the bottom line where price is the main concern, but most sometimes translate in lower quality.
Voyage Entrepreneur: Thus, your clientele must be different from the usual dining crowd?
Chef Giacomo: Patrons of Primavera are the regulars, mostly upscale professionals or retirees with good disposable income, complemented by tourists attracted by reputation and guides and finally the special occasion crowd must be mentioned, who mostly dine here on occasion of birthdays and anniversaries and feels like we are a bit too pricey. Of course, there is a very big change from season to summer when most of our patrons are locals ant more are on a budget and when the summer specials, and discount specials are mainly used do attract people with less disposable income or at least more price concerned than tourists coming sometimes from very expensive cities. And always a big change from weekend to during the week, with the tendencies to have more couples going out on the weekend.
Voyage Entrepreneur: Is there anything you would like to change today?
Chef Giacomo: Some things, yes, I would change. May be going back to a smaller size fine dining family restaurant, half the size I have today, we’ll see. This location is not so easy to gather the crowd for fine dining even though we always managed to maintain our permanent clients.
Voyage Entrepreneur: Despite all environmental and internal difficulties and changes Primavera is staying in business for almost 17 years. What is the secret of its success?
Chef Giacomo: The key to remain in competition is always investing in your business, mostly time and money, and keeping up with forever changing marketplace, especially after September 11 and now when the economy is not so hot anymore! Advertising is very important, as long you can keep a balance between money you spent and revenues generated, especially for large places where you need to meet a certain amount of sales in order to generate a profit. Also a good feedback program where you are able to monitor customer response to your business is very helpful and you should gather opinion and suggestion from your customers. We believe that working with hotels where you can dip into the tourist market that mainly is keeping Florida alive is another beneficial feature that helps to bring customers in. A good and frequently updated Website is also a very good tool, a mailing list and some kind of caller ID system link to a computer keeping track of all the phone calls and names of people calling your business. Most patrons like to feel like they are somebody somewhere, and the fact you remember their names and preferences is remarkable to them. The tendency is going toward a John Doe society of unknown people, but we like to know our customers and their preferences and it is our job to make sure they leave happy. Computers do help a lot in keeping things under control, like pulling up a dining check a year later to see the wine the customer liked so much that day and he cannot remember now, so we can help. Sometimes it is impossible to please everybody but at least we have tried!
Voyage Entrepreneur: Thank you very much, Chef Giacomo for your time and for sharing with us your knowledge and views. We are looking forward to taste Primavera’s menu and wine soon!
Chef Giacomo: You are very welcome. I love what I cook and I’ll be glad if you come and like it too.
Fine Dining Experience at Primavera
By Elena Sheverdinova
It was a great occasion since my husband and I were looking for a new place to celebrate our eleventh anniversary. While browsing Primavera’s website we found lots of good information before the night we would join the fortunate patrons of Chef Giacomo’s restaurant on a Wednesday night the last day of July. It was really worthy because we discovered an indeed generous offer one could not resist, Taste of Primavera Menu ($25.00 per person including the choice from the three house wines), that allowed us to stay within our budget and enjoy Chef’s creativity and an intriguing combination of old and new world dishes.
The Northern Italian cuisine at Primavera is influenced by an innovative style that blends the traditional dishes with that creative twist Chef Giacomo was talking about in his interview. The romantic ambiance, beautiful menu and easy to navigate intricate wine list together with the perfect level of attention of a maitre d’hotel and staff made us feel special and welcome at once. Ample time given to get comfortable with the menu was just perfect to start with our house wine choice of Moreau Rouge, J.Moreau & Fils, NV, and some warm bread and delicate Italian grissini, and, of course, olive oil (served in the original container and was absolutely delicious). Moreau Rouge is a rather popular French table Pinot Noir wine from Burgundy that has light body with a hint of ripe berry fruit; it is very vibrant and soft at the same time.
Well-described Italian dishes of the menu are supplemented daily with specialty items here. Our choice for appetizers was Eggplant Parmigiana in Crust, Chef’s mother’s melting in the mouth original dish that he said he had changed a little, and Esgargot Primavera with diced vegetables in a Tarragon scented Cream sauce. Both dishes were very tasty but we both decide that the prize went to Eggplant Parmigiana in Crust for we both admired the amazing delicacy of this dish and tomato sauce appealing taste and texture.
The extensive menu is a delight for both genuine Italians and those who simply adore Northern Italian cuisine. Well-described Italian dishes are supplemented daily with specialty items. Extensive Wine List also features Chef Giacomo’s personal choices for the month. We skipped this time antipasto trays and homemade pastas, which are the trademarks of Primavera according to the Chef that keep patrons returning. We went for special offer entrees instead and made our choice with Fresh Catch of the Day that was tuna (second choice was yellow tail) baked with a sun-dried tomato, chives and white wine sauce, garnished with fried leeks. It was absolutely superb! Our second entrée was Pork Loin Rollatini staffed with roasted peppers, mozzarella and basil and served with cinnamon, raisins and lemon sauce. Both dishes were presented in a very distinguished way that one could describe like “Chef’s signature”.
While we were enjoying our meal with the waiters frequently filling up our water and wine glasses the restaurant’s tables got more customers and the central room was full by 7 p.m. (we came at 5:30 p.m.). These were mainly people in their good fifties and up, very well dressed, almost all men wearing jackets but of quite informal type. Many customers looked like they come here very often. There was no music at this time though I saw the band place in the other room.
A pleasant surprise of sparkling Prosseco (Chef’s compliment for our anniversary) came along with our dessert of house special whipped cream with a thin layer of tiramisu and fresh fruit such as kiwi, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry and compote cherry. We also ordered coffee, an excellent cup of cappuccino for me and espresso for my husband. Chef Giacomo came out to greet us at our table and we spent some time chatting about Primavera, his cuisine and life in Florida. We finally said “good bye” around 8:30 p.m. and left fully assured that Primavera is a place to be coming back and to bring our friends here too.
The charm of this evening is keeping coming back to us and we would recommend anyone who is looking for truly high cuisine and service to give Primavera a try even though you may have to deviate from the regular fine dining routes and to travel to this location. Rare gems, indeed, are not always found in traditional showcases.
General Menu and Wine List Critique
By Voyage Entrepreneur
The refine menu shows off the deep flavors popular in Chef’s native lakes region in northern Italy. Chef Giacomo has maintained a hierarchical system of service (from a maitre d’hotel to seat you and help you to choose your wine to a busboy to greet you and a waiter to recite you all you want to know about the dishes) that has the layers of a classical fine dining restaurant weather you are in Italy or in New York City.
When you get your food that is rather fast considering the complexity of the dishes the food is frequently very good according to many critics. Just to mention M.L. Warren’s article in San-Sentinel quoted before we are going to use it as reference to describe Primavera’s menu in addition to the menu itself.
The antipasto selection varies in price depending on how much you select, but a number of options on the cart are worth getting. In addition to the usual mozzarella and tomato and roasted peppers, stuffed squid and veal stuffed artichoke are unusual dishes well prepared.
Cold and hot appetizers consist of seventeen items and range from $7.00 to $12.00. Vegetables, homemade pasta, seafood, meet, cheese and fruit are all represented here in numerous variations and the very creative ways. There are seven different salads priced from $5.00 (House) to $15.00 (Lobster and Celery) and three different soups featuring pastina and ravioli in them alongside the basic ingredients (Lobster Bisque/$9.00, Minestrone Primavera/$7.00, and Pasta & Fagioli Bean Soup/$6.00).
All pastas (some are very unusual and this is when the server’s explanations and demonstrations are so useful) are available as appetizers for half price. Pastas and Risotti section of eleven items ranging from Cappellini Filetto Pomodoro/$14.00 to Risotto Frutti di Mare/$23.00 is followed by Entrees that include Seafood (six dishes from $19.00 to $30.00), Meats (13 dishes from $18.00 to $60. 00) including among them such rarities as Beluga Caviar Crusted Salmon and Surf &Turf/grilled double cut veal chop with Bordelaise sauce and lobster medallions with Scampi sauce and tagliolini. Chef Giacomo’s entrees embrace a wide variety of Italian regions but tend to be heavier than the light flavors embraced by his pasta creations. Seven side dishes are priced at $6.00-$7.00 and feature risotto as well as steamed, roasted and sautéed fresh vegetables.
Selection of desserts (see “Primavera Awards” or sections above for examples) from the pastry cart and a variety of homemade ice creams concludes the menu.
The wine list at Primavera has a good selection though one may be surprised that there are a lot of non-Italian wines (eight countries- Old and New World- besides Italy), that is explained in the interview with the Chef by his personal preferences and concept driven requirements. The constantly going on Wine Dinner program priced now at $60.00 gives participants a unique chance of learning from the experts about wine and food pairing while having a high-class dinner in the buoyant atmosphere and elegant setting of Primavera.
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, 2002
Recognized as one of America's top restaurants and the Best Italian restaurant in Broward County by the National Zagat Survey, 2001
Winner Reader's Choice by Sunshine magazine as best Italian Restaurant in Broward 1998
Recipient of the Golden Spoon Award (given by Florida Trend Magazine)
Awarded for its "Chocolate Mousse Stuffed Banana in Phyllo" desert
Overall Excellence and Achievement at Chocolate-Chocolate by the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale Contemporaries
Rated Very Good by The Miami Herald
"Four Stars", Sun Sentinel
Best Italian Restaurant, MiamiMetro magazine/Critic's Choice Our Favorites
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