DellaVentura's Scores Big

Rochelle Koff7/30/2010

DellaVentura looks like just another strip mall pizzeria, but locals know better. For 20 years they've been coming to this small Davie restaurant for its delicious brick-oven pies, huge plates of pasta and heavenly garlic rolls. The Miami Dolphins know about the place, too. DellaVentura catered the Dolphins' summer camp for kids, and this football season it'll be cooking for the team about twice a month. The restaurant also provides lunches at four private schools.

When founder Joe DellaVentura sold the place four years ago, fans fretted, but owners Bill Baughman and Ty Ernst have kept the same recipes and devotion to quality, like making their own ravioli and grilling chicken to order for Caesar salads.
Dinners come with a good-size side salad plus those divine, diet-busting rolls. DellaVentura also has the usual wings, antipasto and mozzarella sticks plus house-made soup. Our carefully packed take-home containers bulged with shrimp parmigiana smothered in sauce and cheese, fat squares of ricotta-filled ravioli and generous slabs of chicken in a rich marsala sauce with lots of sautéed mushrooms. The crisp, smoky pizza crust held up well on the drive home (toppings include barbecue chicken, steak and cheese and clam sauce).

You'd expect Nonna to come out of the kitchen yelling Mangia! Mangia!, but these tech-savvy guys invite you to text for discounts. Call or stop by for details.