Farinelli 1937 opens Monday on Commodore Plaza

It's been a long time coming, but the corner of Commodore Plaza and Grand Avenue has been transformed into a nice garden and restaurant. Farinelli 1937, pizzeria and cucina, an Italian eatery, will open Monday, March 21. I had the privilege of trying out the food over the weekend and enjoyed it immensely.

The restaurant itself is large and bright. There are a lot of tables and plenty of room for guests. The outside patio, right on the corner, was built up a foot or so and is it's own little garden, paved and tree-lined.

Farinelli 1937 will open from 11 am to 11 pm during the week and until midnight on weekends. They are still playing around with the hours and routine, so things will change. They will only serve inside for the first week or so and eventually will open the outside patio.

We enjoyed everything we tried. There are tables throughout and a long "L" shaped bar, where we sat.

That corner of Coconut Grove had been very quiet for so long, but now it appears as if it will be one of the busiest locations - on one side of the street is Farinelli 1937 and next door is 33 Restaurant, the Peruvian place, which sort of flow into each other, a very neighborly thing; and across Commodore Plaza is Lokal the burger place and soon to be open Atchana's Thai restaurant. On the other side of Lokal is Strada and then across the street is George's in the Grove and anchoring the other end of Commodore are Greenstreet and Lulu. Lots to choose from on that one strip. Bianco Gelato is in the center of the block and when the Mr. Moe's location has a new tenant and across from that, the former Chicago's/Firkin Frier spot is filled, the street will be teeming with restaurants.


Alexander Arrata and Kelly Lamb took excellent care of us. They knew all about the food and wine and were fun to talk with.

This is the Diablo Pizza, it wasn't on the menu that night, but will be part of their main menu, Alex suggested we try it and it was delicious.

I think our favorite item was the Fritto Misto - deep fried shrimp, calamari, zucchini, mushrooms, pineapple, apple and spicy Pomodoro sause, the hot pineapple was surprisingly good.

The place was full and I have a feeling this will be the norm. People enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. Maurizio Farinelli, who also owns Strada, was proudly on hand and also I was happy to see Christina Chacon and husband Diego Uribe, who are part owners. You may remember them from the Chacon Gallery, which was across the street a few years ago.

Pizzas are the main thing on the menu, all different styles, They were lined up, right out of two large pizza ovens in back of the restaurant.

 This is the Mediterranea, wood-roasted Key West pink shrimp, arugula, endive, orange wedges, almonds and shaved grana padano. We also had Cavolfiori E Finocchi which is cauliflower and fennel gratin with parmigiano reggiano. I did a little mixing and matching and found that the sauce from the cauliflower dish placed on the arugula salad was delicious.

We ended the dinner with these Nutella puffs. They don't have a name yet; that's what the staff has been calling them. They are hot and the Nutella oozes out as you bite into them.


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