Zito Italian restaurant in Fort Lauderdale is serving up authentic Italian cuisine, and Chef Sam says the vision was clear from the start: a totally Italian menu.
The idea came together during a chance meeting between Chef Sam and his business partner, Christopher Zito.
"It's pretty much a funny story that me and my partner, Christopher Zito, we met on the plane, and then we have always been to open an Italian restaurant, not an Italian slash American restaurant. Totally Italian. So after, like, you know, nine hours of flight, like, you know, talking, talking, talking. When we come back from our trip, we decided to get together and we sit down. And then I told him I was like, you know, I can if I open a restaurant, if we're going to open a restaurant, it's going to be totally Italian food," Sam said.
At Zito, nearly everything is made in-house, from the pasta to the signature dishes.
"Our grill octopus is coming from Spain. We have our own homemade pasta. Everything is all made. We don't buy anything else. We made everything in the house," Sam said.
One standout is a dish Chef Sam created to bring together ingredients from different regions of Italy.
"We actually we created this dish because the pistachio. They are from Sicily. And then the kids are from Napoli. So we created these two families. Families together. You know, we come up with this one. This one. It's our favorite one that everybody loves. I think we are the only one in Fort Lauderdale that has it," Sam said.
The menu also features a burrata dish and shrimp sourced from Spain, along with a Neapolitan-style pizza.
"And last but not least, the pizza. The pizza. I have to beat the pizza Napoletana on the menu," Sam said.
Guests can learn more about Zito Italian restaurant on its website and Instagram.
"We get you can go on our website, zitositalian.com. And then absolutely on Instagram. We are very strong on Instagram," Sam said.
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