• Subscribe to the Magazine
  • Read the Magazine
  • The Best of Fort Lauderdale
Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a thing!

  • Features
  • Fashion
  • City Life
    • Business
    • Community
    • Culture
    • Development
    • Profile
  • Good Life
    • Casa Chic
    • Health
    • Motors
    • Outdoors
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Guide
    • Entertainment
    • Events
    • Restaurant Guide
    • Snapshots
  • Food & Drink
    • Chef’s Corner
    • Grazings
    • Light Bites
    • Restaurant Guide
  • Around Town
  • From the Editor
  • Goods
  • Old Lauderdale
  • The List
  • Subscribe
  • Events
  • Restaurant Guide
  • Read the Magazine
0
Subscribe

Read the current issue

Fort Lauderdale Magazine
Fort Lauderdale Magazine
  • Features
  • Fashion
  • City Life
    • Business
    • Community
    • Culture
    • Development
    • Profile
  • Good Life
    • Casa Chic
    • Health
    • Motors
    • Outdoors
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Guide
    • Entertainment
    • Events
    • Restaurant Guide
    • Snapshots
  • Food & Drink
    • Chef’s Corner
    • Grazings
    • Light Bites
    • Restaurant Guide
  • Around Town
  • From the Editor
  • Goods
  • Old Lauderdale
  • The List
  • The Best of Fort Lauderdale
  • DINE Fort Lauderdale
  • Chef's Corner
  • Food & Drink

A Favorite Reborn

  • November 29, 2022
  • FLMag Staff
Photography: Ricardo Mejia.
The new Timpano is trying some new things, but one of the main men behind the overhauled restaurant reckons there’s plenty to bring back the old regulars as well.

When popular Las Olas Italian restaurant Timpano reopened in August after a substantial remodel, the people behind it hoped it would bring in some new patrons – and offer returning ones all the things they loved before.

It’s an interesting line to walk, says Michael Ferraro, chef and vice president of food and beverage for Tavistock Restaurant Collection, the Orlando-based company that owns Timpano. “Our tagline for this is ‘the reimagined Timpano,’” he says. “We have things that are very familiar and a few things that are from the imagination when it comes to Italian cooking.”

Some things are good old-fashioned Italian comfort food. The restaurant’s famous mussels remain on the menu, the pastas are all made in-house and the meatballs are personal for Ferraro. “It’s my father’s meatball recipe; he’s been making it for 60 years,” he says. “Actually more – he’s 84.”

Photography: Ricardo Mejia.

In other areas, they have fun and get creative. The, ahem, Parm to Table Experience involves uni alfredo with fettucine, pecorino romano and butter of Parma, prepared tableside. Tableside prep for a dish that involves sea urchins might not be your typical Italian-American restaurant experience; Ferraro says it’s fun to experience, and the culinary payoff is worth it.

It all happens in a place that’s meant to exude a kind of stylish, city vibe. (There are two Timpanos; the one in the Hyde Park area of Tampa has a more rustic feel, Ferraro says.)

“It’s modern, kind of chic,” Ferraro says of the Las Olas locale. “It has that elegant class to it, but it has some spice. The dining room is absolutely gorgeous.”

There are other flourishes. That Parm to Table dish? Served on a Versace plate. “I wouldn’t really serve a dish on Versace in New York, but we’re in South Florida,” Ferraro says.

Creating the new menu, which also includes Marsala-style wagyu hanger steak, rock shrimp risotto and snapper piccata, involved a lot of experimenting and sampling for the Tavistock team. Basically, lots of eating. A tough life.

Photography: Ricardo Mejia.

“My gym routine is barely hanging on here,” Ferraro says.

”We wanted to make sure that our vision is something creative and fun but that the people of South Florida appreciate. As the years go on in your career, you kind of go back around to things that are familiar and that you love.”

At Timpano, he wants to mix that great familiar comfort food with experiences and a bit of wow factor. Restaurants in Italy are excellent for that, he says. They do a great fine dining job of delivering a spectacular experience. You dress up, it’s a night out, but you can also go to the bar and have something simple. It’s date night, “red sauce Sunday” and everything in between. It’s a night out, but it’s for everybody.

“We really wanted to have fun with the project,” Ferraro says. “We want it to be approachable for both new and old clientele.”


Photography: Ricardo Mejia.

The Dish: Tuna Saltimboca

Ingredients

(Serves 2 to 3)

  • 2 to 6 oz pieces fresh tuna
  • 4 large fresh sage leaves
  • 4 to 6 large thinly sliced pieces prosciutto
  • 2 oz unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed
  • 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • .25 tsp fresh sage, chopped
  • .5 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
  • Salt to taste
  • Black pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • Chives, fresh, cut into 1.25″ sticks, 16 pieces
Method

Tuna prep:
Lay 2 to 3 slices of prosciutto lengthwise across the top of plastic wrap (times 2). Place a sprig of sage on the top and bottom of the tuna and wrap with prosciutto firmly.

For the brown butter vinaigrette:
In a small pot over medium to high heat, brown butter until milk solids brown and are aromatic (1 to 2 minutes). Remove from stove top and add remaining ingredients while whisking. Set aside.

Cooking and plating:
In a very hot sauté pan, add 1 tbsp of canola oil. Season both pieces of tuna with salt and pepper and gently place in hot sauté pan. Cook for 30 seconds on each of the four sides. Remove and allow to rest for 2 to 3 minutes on a wire rack. Slice across grain into 3 pieces and plate on decorative china arranging from 12 to 6 o’clock, shingling the tuna. Top with well mixed brown butter vinaigrette and garnish with 8 chive sticks.

Related Topics
  • Timpano
Previous Article
  • Food & Drink
  • Grazings

Rise of the Pies

  • November 17, 2022
  • FLMag Staff
View Post
Next Article
  • Food & Drink
  • Light Bites

December 2022

  • December 6, 2022
  • FLMag Staff
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Food & Drink
  • Light Bites

January 2023

  • January 13, 2023
  • FLMag Staff
View Post
  • Food & Drink
  • Grazings

Ditch the Meat, Keep the Taste

  • January 11, 2023
  • FLMag Staff
View Post
  • Chef's Corner
  • Food & Drink

Time to Dine

  • January 6, 2023
  • FLMag Staff
View Post
  • Food & Drink
  • Grazings

Acai Bowls to Try in Fort Lauderdale

  • January 5, 2023
  • Gisel Habibnejad
View Post
  • Food & Drink
  • Grazings

The Perfect Holiday Wine-Pairing

  • December 19, 2022
  • FLMag Staff
View Post
  • Food & Drink
  • Grazings

Spirits of the Season

  • December 19, 2022
  • FLMag Staff
View Post
  • Chef's Corner
  • Food & Drink

Lasso the Moon

  • December 15, 2022
  • FLMag Staff
View Post
  • Food & Drink
  • Light Bites

December 2022

  • December 6, 2022
  • FLMag Staff

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to our newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a thing!

Fort Lauderdale Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Media Kit
  • Careers
  • Submit An Idea
© PD Strategic Media. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of PD Strategic Media. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our privacy policy.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

Best of Fort Lauderdale 2023 Logo
Vote Now!
X
X