The June 2018 SWFL Foodies Meetup at Angelina’s Ristorante

Stevan Stanisic
Jun 27, 2018
3 min read

Angelina’s Ristorante

s a restaurant in Bonita Springs, FL featuring Italian cuisine. They are known for their formal atmosphere and extensive Wine List, curated by sommeliers with a rating of level one to three (introductory to advanced) after examination with the Court of Master Sommeliers. Nothing illustrates the establishment’s extensive wine selection more than their iconic wine tower that is visible upon entry to the restaurant and houses many of their wines.

Wine tower, Angelina’s

The restaurant is very pleasing aesthetically with it’s beautiful lounge and dining areas.

I was there that evening to participate in the monthly SWFL Foodies meetup, where members gather for a meal. SWFL Foodies is a Facebook group started almost 4 years ago by organizer Wanda Lopez, and since then has grown to almost 13,000 members.

There were about 16 of us that night, and we had a private dining room for the event.

June 2018 SWFL Foodies meetup

Before our orders were taken, one of the waitstaff was kind enough to explain the menu and restaurant specials for the evening.

My dining companion and I ordered off the restaurant’s prix fixe menu that evening, which was $99 for two.

Prix fixe menu, Angelina’s

The choices looked very good. We decided on the fried grouper and calamari starter, with fried picked vegetables, chili aioli, marinara sauce and lemon. This was a great start to our meal and a hit with the other two members of our table.

Fried calamari and grouper

We then moved onto our second course. I ordered an Angelina’s salad, which was assorted greens, prosciutto, blueberries, pickled onion goat cheese, pecans and a wine vinaigrette. It was very good. My dining companion had the pasta e fagiola, This is a classic Italian soup with prosciutto, cannellini beans, tomatoes and pasta. Added chianti and pecorino cheese sealed the deal. I have always eschewed this soup as I found it not to my liking. This was my fault, as I seemed to have ordered pasta e fagiola from very commercial restaurants that did not take care or pride in it’s preparation. At Angelina’s this was an excellent cup of soup and most highly recommended.

The entrees ordered were the swordfish Mediterranea and the pork osso bucco.

Dining companion loved the fish, which came with cannellini beans, zucchini, artichoke, olives, roasted tomatoes with a roasted tomato sauce with fennel. It was good, but I thought the Mediterranean treatment much too heavy handed with the olive and tomato notes very overbearing.

Swordfish Mediterranea

I ordered the pork osso bucco. It came with potato puree, au jus and pickled fennel. It was very good also, but unfortunately this has been a trend of restaurants that want to cut costs serving pork shank instead of lamb used in a more traditional osso bucco. Though well put together, I dreamed of lamb throughout this whole dish.

We finished up with a couple of desserts, the strawberry panna cotta and the leche sorbetto. The panna cotta was ok, a sweetened cream thickened with gelatin as one would expect. The leche sorbetto was terra incognita and very good. Sorbettos are frozen desserts with sweetened water and flavorings, in this case leche, Fun and most remarkable.

We finished off out dinners with a complementary serving of a herbal- and botanical-derived Amaro,or Limoncello, both digestifs, or after dinner cordials. A very nice gesture of the restaurant.

After dinner amaro and lemoncello

The food at Angelina’s was good but was made even better by the social outlet and camaraderie provided by SWFL Foodies. Should they have another meetup and it’s convenient for you, participate in this group activity. You will not be disappointed.

SWFL Foodies Facebook Page

Angelina’s Ristorante

24041 S. Tamiami Tr.

Bonita Springs, FL 34135

(239)390-3187

Angelina’s Ristorante Website

Summer hours June-September: Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday, 4-9 PM, Friday-Saturday, 4-10 PM; Complementary valet parking; All major credit cards accepted; Kid’s meals available