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Sue Anderson (left to right), Bob Anderson and Ray Murphy enjoy the soft opening at Legno Italian Kitchen on Fort Myers Beach. Photo by Nathan Mayberg
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Legno Italian Kitchen Manager Anthony Ruggiero and Manager Heather Schabert.
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The owners of Legno Italian Kitchen couldn’t have picked better timing to open their new restaurant at Santini Marina Plaza as Fort Myers Beach has been bustling with the arrival of residents and visitors for the season. The Italian and Sicilian food at was warmly received this past Friday during a soft opening where residents on the south side of the island have been eagerly awaiting the opening of a new restaurant since Hurricane Ian. The hurricane wiped out all of the eateries at Santini Marina Plaza, the popular shopping center on the southern end of the island.
Anita Cereceda, who owns The Islander, Gift Gallery & Boutique a couple storefronts down from Legno Italian Kitchen, was among the first to try out the new hotspot.
“It was fantastic. Everything was great,” Cereceda said. “We all just completely and thoroughly enjoyed every single thing we had. It was wonderful. The wine was delicious. It was all great. I can’t remember the last time I had such a rave review for a restaurant. My favorite dish of all were the mussels. The mussels were really fabulous.”
Legno Italian Kitchen Manager Anthony Ruggiero said the highlights of the menu are the homemade fresh pastas, fresh seafood, surf and turf with a 6 oz. lobster tail, a variety of 14 oz. prime New York strip steaks and an 8 oz. filet mignon. For dessert, there are such standouts as the affogato – a classic Italian dessert featuring vanilla ice cream, pistachio and rocky road with expresso. There are also homemade brownies, terra massoud, fresh canoles and cinnamon buns to choose from for dessert.
Ruggiero said the Italian and Sicilian dishes feature family recipes that have been passed along for three generations from Sicily to Brooklyn to Naples in Collier County where the Maffei family operates two Italian restaurants. They also operate Legno Italian Kitchen in Estero.
The dinner menu includes linguine clams, spicy mezzi rigatoni with spicy vodka sauce and Calabrian chili,
chicken parmigiana, veal chop parmigiana, salmon, red snapper, branzino, fettuccine Alfredo, chicken Francese, lobster ravioli, wood roasted wings, collosal shrimp, calamari, and their signature burger. One of the appetizer options includes a charcuterie board of prosciutto cotto, mortadella, spicy salami, reggiano, fontina, giardiniera, Italian olives, crostini, honey and fig spread.
The restaurant also features pizza pies which can be ordered in-house as a 12-inch pie, or the option of a 12-inch pie and 16-inch pie to go. There will be about 10 different pizza options, Ruggiero said.
There is an extensive wine list, “a very approachable wine list,” Ruggiero said. “A full-service bar, specialty craft cocktails, our famous drink is the Legno smoked old fashioned. That’s bulleit rye, amaro nonino, Italian cherry, with a smoked chip.” The drink features angostura bitters and orange bitters.
Sue Anderson, of Fort Myers Beach, attended the soft opening with her husband Bob. “This plaza needed something after Ian. There were no bars or restaurants at this end. They did a great job, very classy,” Mrs. Anderson said.
The eatery is the second Italian and Sicilian fine dining restaurant to open on Fort Myers Beach this month, following the opening of Grace’s Trattoria at the Lani Kai Island Resort on the north end of town.
Cereceda said Legno Italian Kitchen will positively impact the “quality of life” for people that live on the southern end of the island, with a restaurant open for the first time since Hurricane Ian that is south of Publix.
“That makes folks really happy,” Cereceda said. “They are the first ones out of the box so they are going to be as busy as they can possibly handle. I hope that it will impact the plaza in a positive way.”
The tentative hours for the restaurant will be Sunday through Wednesday from 11-10, and Thursday through Saturday from 11-midnight.
“It was a lot of time and energy” to remodel the restaurant space and prepare for the opening, Ruggiero said. “It’s going to be exciting,” he said.
Fort Myers Beach Observer Nathan Mayberg can be reached at Nmayberg@breezenewspapers.com
Dining and Cooking