Sardinia Enoteca Ristorante

Traveling through Italy can change the way you look at an Italian menu by revealing how particular regions of the country provide the essential ingredients that make everything taste so good! South Beach foodies flock to the quieter west side of the city to enjoy the soulful regional Italian entrees and carefully edited wine list at Sardinia Enoteca Ristorante. In many European wine regions, an enoteca is a wine repository where local vintners bring their best wines to make it easier for travelers to discover new regional pours. Sardinia embraces this concept by collecting Italy’s smaller labels and offering them to guests as part of a popular monthly wine series or as specialized pairings with lunch or dinner.

Escape the buzzing Ocean Drive strip and discover the residential sections of the city where locals gather to enjoy the daily happy hour from 5-7pm and take 50% off the entire wine list every Tuesday. Sardinia’s selection of antipasti, smoked meats and cheeses pair perfectly with any sundown sip. To encourage sampling new vintages, wines are offered in a quartino, an osteria-style presentation that does not require the purchase of an entire bottle. Guests can craft a tasting platter of house-roasted vegetables, imported cheese and piquant olives or linger over entrees prepared in the wood-fired oven.

Partners Pietro Vardeu and Antonio Gallo have crafted a cozy clubhouse atmosphere on a quiet South Beach street that has gradually become one of the hottest dinner districts in the city. Capturing the flavors of Sardinian cuisine, the house specials of roast branzino in a salt crust, tender suckling pig or savory rabbit ragu are not the usual menu staples found elsewhere in town. Summertime fare like distinctive house-crafted pasta, crisp flatbread style pizzas and grilled baby octopus taste like a visit to the Italian shore. The staff is friendly and well informed about the food and wine which makes it easier to taste new things each time you visit.