3 stars for pizza & sushi at Rice & Dough in Fort Lauderdale

Rochelle Koff6/21/2012

You want pizza. Your friends are in the mood for sushi. Someone ends up disappointed. But that’s not the case at Rice & Dough, a 2-month-old Fort Lauderdale restaurant that, as the name suggests, caters to both culinary cravings. Don’t expect to find slices of sashimi atop your cheese pie. In the open kitchen, cooks are twirling dough and simmering tomato sauce, while at the sushi bar, the chef is slicing and dicing.

The menu separates the cuisines, but there’s a lot of cross-cultural ordering at the table. On one girls’ night out, we shared various rolls, edamame, a plate of prosciutto, cheese and olives and a marinara pizza. For salads, we could have ordered Caesar or a seaweed; for drinks, beer, wine or sake. Owners Goran and Amy Perovic set the friendly tone. Trained as a sommelier and manager, he has 20 years of restaurant experience, covering Italian, French, Continental, Asian and American cuisine in casual and fine-dining settings including Delray Beach’s Grand Enoteka and Fort Lauderdale’s Bova Prime.

Ambience: Perched on a corner just north of Las Olas Boulevard, the restaurant is charming enough for a date night but casual enough for kids. The decor is fun and contemporary, with black, white and red accents, comfy chairs and white origami lamps for an Asian accent.

What Worked

• Ajvar - A piquant, delectable creamy and reddish spread blending roasted eggplant and sweet red peppers
• Create-your-own charcuterie plate with a top-notch selection of cold cuts (including prosciutto, capicola and sopressata), cheeses (brie, Gruyère, truffle Gouda), olives (Sicilian black, kalamata, gaeta) and spreads (pesto, artichoke campo basso, roasted garlic)
• Strips of warm bread made from pizza dough drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette
• Fat, tender American kobe beef meatballs topped with a light, house-made marinara sauce, ricotta and Parmesan
• Good but basic eggplant Parmesan
• Broccoli rabe and sausage
• The Tartufo pizza - cremini mushrooms, a few black truffles, an over-easy egg, white truffle oil and a base of creamy, nutty fontina cheese
• Fresh, flavorful spicy tuna rolls
• Chad Black dragon roll with shrimp tempura crunch, avocado, slices of eel and eel sauce
• Tiramisu
• Cheesecake
• Make-your-own sundae - a goblet of ice cream served with a tray of sprinkles, coconut & Nestle Crunch
• House-made limoncello