Boca Raton is quickly becoming the Little Italy of South Florida. It already has its share of Italian restaurants and new ones continue to open while even more are on tap. Roots Italian Kitchen opened recently on Federal, the old Merlino’s is soon to be a Frank & Dino’s from Deerfield and the new Hyatt Place will soon feature Palm Beach County’s first Louie Bossi’s.
One of the recent additions to the Italian restaurant scene is Le Sorelle on North Federal in Boca. Billed as an Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar, the small place tucked into a corner slot in a strip mall features wood-fired pizza, Italian food, and wine.
We arrived and was greeted at the door by an older Italian gentleman with an accent that sounded a lot like my Uncle Tony (but he wasn’t as miserable as Tony was). Most of the tables in the restaurant were taken and there was only one seat at the small bar open, so after looking around we decided to take one of the tables outside.
I think we made the right choice, as the tables inside the restaurant were pretty close to each other and one thing I enjoy about eating out is the ability to have candid conversations without having the people at the table next to me hearing everything I have to say.
Le Sorelle Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar in Boca Raton is owned by three sisters who’s family has been involved in the restaurant industry since 1962. There were plenty of Italian accents in the restaurant, which was a queue for me that we were in for some good food!
Being that we decided to be the only ones to sit outside, we waited a bit for someone to come over and take our drink order. When we were seated, we were given menus and a wine list, but it took a while for our server to come over and take our drink order. However, a gentlemen we later found out was the husband of one of the sisters, kept chatting with us and making recommendations. Since he was not in any type of uniform, we felt he was just a regular. It wasn’t until after dinner I asked who he was.
When our server did come over, we ordered two glasses of wine and the Pizza Diavola (tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, spicy soppressata and extra virgin olive oil) from the wood-burning oven – $16. Now there are a lot of wood-fired and coal-oven pizza places here and frankly, coming from up north, I’ve been hard pressed to find “really good” pizza. Nick’s New Haven is pretty good, I’m not a fan of Anthony’s Coal Fired, and Luigi’s is pretty good as well, but I think we just tasted the pizza that tops them all.
The crust was thin but “crusty” on the edge with a nice, non-overpowering char. It had just the right amount of sauce to cheese ratio and had incredible flavor, right down to the dough. By the way, the pizza dough is used to make strips of bread that they bring out with some olive oil as a bread service.
There are quite a few different types of pizzas on the menu and they can be ordered in either 12” or 16”. Some of them are a bit up there in price, but I have to say… the pizza we had was absolutely delicious. We even commented about having just pizza and wine on our next visit.
For entrees, I went with the Lasagna (egg pasta lasagna topped with Ragù sauce of mixed meat beef, tomato sauce and pork, processed with buffalo mozzarella, besciamella and grated Parmigiana Reggiano) – $26.
It’s been a while since I had lasagne so I was looking forward to this one. The pasta was light and thin, with multiple layers of pasta and meat/cheese that made a dense but not overly heavy dish. It was finished in the wood oven which added a little crisp to the top layer. My lasagna craving was satisfied and this was a great choice that goes on my recommended list.
My husband decided to go traditional and get the Chicken Parmigiana. Our server warned us that the portion was large and she was right. The chicken was breaded with Italian bread crumbs and topped with cheese and sauce then fired in the wood oven to give that top layer of cheese a bubbly finish. I had a small piece, which turned into a second small piece and we still had some to take home.
While a pretty standard dish, it was good. However, there are other more inventive options on the menu to try.
After dinner, we were presented with the dessert menu and was told by both our server and the previously mentioned husband of one of the owners, that the cheesecake is a must. Unfortunately, we skipped dessert, but will definitely save room the next time we visit.
Yes, there will be a next time!