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Jim and Angie Orr, of Hilliard, Ohio, enjoy a sunset and dinner from Grace’s Trattoria on the balcony of the Lani Kai Island Resort overlooking the Gulf on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Grace’s Trattoria, one floor up at the Lani Kai Island Resort near the lobby, is open daily from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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One of the great dining views on Fort Myers Beach can be found on the balcony of Grace’s Trattoria at the Lani Kai Island Resort on Fort Myers Beach, which recently opened. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Grace’s Trattoria at the Lani Kai Island Resort on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Grace’s Trattoria at the Lani Kai Island Resort on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Grace’s Trattoria at the Lani Kai Island Resort on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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The menu at Grace’s Trattoria at the Lani Kai Island Resort features authentic Italian and Sicilian dishes, along with seafood and steak.
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The recent opening of Grace’s Trattoria, with one of the great dining views on Fort Myers Beach, has helped put the finishing touches on the comeback of the Lani Kai Island Resort from Hurrciane Ian.
With Gulf views from inside and outside on its balcony, the new restaurant is part of a reimagining of the iconic resort’s offerings with fine dining featuring Italian and Sicilian food, steaks and seafood.
Lani Kai Island Resort General Manager Larry Puccia has put together a new menu for the restaurant that he expects will delight customers of authentic Italian and Sicilian food.
The recipes for much of the Italian and Sicilian food are from his family going back to his mother and Sicilian grandmother who he watched cook back in upstate New York. Puccia said one of the secrets to the food’s success is his family’s traditional red sauce which goes back to Palermo, bolstering what he calls “cutting edge Italian dishes.”
The menu features a whole page of pasta dishes from lasagna to pasta marinara, fettuccine Alfredo, linguine gambero, meatballs, spaghetti alla carbonara to sea scallops, linguini with cream sauce and walnuts, and artichoke hearts (one of Manager Anne-Marie Hein’s favorites).
Other features on the menu are the surf and turf, filet mignon and the 14 oz. prime rib.
Seafood lovers can enjoy several different grouper dishes, along with oysters, jumbo shrimp cocktail, grilled shrimp and clams.
There is also a whole veal and chicken menu.
Puccia, who has a large recipe collection, said he is always open to adding more. “If I see something I like, I will add my signature to it,” he said.
“It’s a great Gulf view with outdoor and indoor seating,” Puccia said.
The restaurant is named after Grace Conidaris, the late matriarch of the Conidaris family who have owned the Lani Kai Island Resort since its founding on Fort Myers Beach in 1978. “This is where she started serving her Italian food 45 years ago,” Puccia said while sitting at a table inside Grace’s Trattoria. The spot was formerly known as the Sable Palm Bar & Grill. Grace’s husband Robert Conidaris, who built the resort, died in January.
The resort has featured a new, updated look since Hurricane Ian devastated the property three years ago. The family, which in the construction business, redid much of the hotel, updating rooms, the lobby, and restaurant spaces on the roof, and bars on the ground floor.
“The hotel has been revitalized,” Puccia said. “People come in now and they are very impressed with the transition.”
The opening of Grace’s Trattoria adds to the dining options at the resort, which also has opened its Sun Deck Restaurant and Island View. On the ground floor are several bars, where pizza is also served.
Puccia has continued a tradition of giving back to the community through the pizza pies he helps make for the hotel. He and his wife Valeria started donating pizza pies to Lee Health workers and first responders during covid, a practice they still continue to this day.
Three years after Hurricane Ian, Puccia said the hotel has made a full comeback with customers giving a highly positive reaction to the remodeling and refurbishing. “The response has been overwhelming,” he said.
“There was a lot of work and a lot heartache,” Puccia said. “It’s been a long haul. We are just about there now.”
The hours at Grace’s Trattoria are 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. daily, with a happy hour between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Dining and Cooking