Nothing like invitations to sample free Italian food and wine to bring 200 people out for DaVinci’s of Boca for Italian American Heritage Month and to introduce their new chef and fall menu.
Tucked in back of Town Center at Boca Raton next to Saks Fifth Avenue, locals may have thought this was just another chain restaurant. It’s not. The Carvelli family owns DaVinci’s and opened in 1996 on Marco Island, a town well known for Italian food. The party on Oct. 15 also celebrated its one-year anniversary in Boca.
“We took our best-selling items from Marco like spinach gnocchi,” [on the new menu with gorgonzola cream sauce for $21], said Luigi Carvelli, who owns the restaurant with his brother Francesco. Among the other pasta items are cavatelli with broccoli rabe and Italian sausage [$25]; black linguine with lobster tails in a spicy tomato sauce [$31] and lasagna Bolognese [$19].
“We also introduced charred octopus as an appetizer,” said Carvelli. That dish is prepared with potato confit, arugula, capers, white beans in squid ink puree and pickled pepperoncini aioli [$16]. Among other appetizers are beef carpaccio [$15] and calamari with marinara sauce [$15].
Guests sampled eggplant rollatini appetizer [$12]; beef short ribs, on the new menu with mashed potatoes, asparagus and veal jus [$35] and a stuffed pasta version for $26. A tubular pasta called garganelli was in a light pink sauce with shrimp, broccoli, and baby Portobello and is also on the menu with a pesto cream sauce [$26].
The menu has pasta, chicken, veal, fish and meat dishes with sides from meatballs [$3] to spaghetti [$7]. “We put an extra bone marrow in our osso buco and it comes with mushroom risotto, [$35],” Carvelli said.
New chef Ardany Rivas is particularly proud of his zuppi di pesce, [$35] a shellfish stew with lobster tail, shrimp, scallops, clams, calamari, octopus and a chef’s choice of whatever fish is fresh that day, he said.
Tastes of salt caramel tiramisu were getting thumbs up.
“Our dessert was voted the best in Boca,” Carvelli said. “All the food is prepared from scratch and the pasta machine is from Italy.”
The interior of DaVinci’s was created by Megan Carvelli, Luigi’s wife.
“It has to be comfortable so you feel at home,” he said. There’s a private room for up to 40 guests, and a 60-foot bar made from wood on land dating back to Megan Carvelli’s great-grandfather, according to the family.
Carvelli said they’re well aware there are a lot of restaurant choices here.
“Boca Raton has high expectations and competition is good,” he said.
