South Florida

Essenza Italian Eatery & Market Set to Open on Commercial Blvd

The restaurant will feature more than 20 tiramisu flavors and custom tiramisu cakes.

Image from Essenza Italian Eatery & Market website

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — Essenza Italian Eatery & Market is opening May 25th at 2831 E Commercial Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308.

Owner Maria Avallone told Business Debut the restaurant is part of the business she owns with her husband, Roberto Junco, who gave her the restaurant as a gift for her 40th birthday. The opening date is also Avallone’s birthday, she told Business Debut.

What to Expect

Essenza will be open from breakfast through dinner as a full-service Italian eatery and market, Avallone told Business Debut. The name Essenza means “essence” in Italian, and Avallone said the goal is to bring several parts of Italian dining into one place.

Guests can expect 94 seats, table service, a bar area, bakery cases, gelato, desserts and a market component. Avallone told Business Debut that much of the staff is Italian, including team members from Tuscany and Naples.

The menu will include fresh homemade pasta, focaccia filled with tomato, pastries, gelato, desserts, beer, wine and Italian entrees, Avallone told Business Debut. Entrees will include osso buco with polenta, rabbit with rosemary and olives over mashed potatoes, and swordfish with caponata.

Images from Essenza Italian Eatery & Market website

Essenza will offer 19 pasta options, with sauces including carbonara, puttanesca, pistachio pesto and tortellini with panna, Avallone told Business Debut. Fresh pasta will also be sold by the pound, with sauces available to purchase alongside it.

The restaurant will also carry Passion Tiramisu, Avallone’s tiramisu brand that is now part of Essenza. She told Business Debut the line includes more than 20 tiramisu flavors, including peanut butter, key lime pie, white chocolate, Baileys, Nutella, amaretto, coconut, limoncello, and red berries.

Custom tiramisu cakes will also be available for birthdays, events, weddings, and other occasions, with messages written on top in cocoa powder, Avallone told Business Debut.

Wine and Market

Essenza will serve Italian beer, including Menabrea, along with wine and aperitivo offerings, Avallone told Business Debut. Aperitivo will be offered from 11 a.m. to noon and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., with free bites available with the purchase of a Spritz, vermouth or house wine.

Guests who enjoy a wine at the restaurant will be able to purchase it to take home at 25% off, Avallone told Business Debut. She said the restaurant plans to add a wine club with member wine storage, winery dinners, special discounts, and wine pairing dinners.

Avallone said the wine list will include Amarone Barrique and Brunello di Montalcino.