Angela’s Bar & Kitchen Turns an Italian Import Empire Into a Restaurant Advantage

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Angela’s Salad. {Photos by Han Okcuoglu}

On the second floor of Floras Italians Eatery in Coral Springs is Angela’s Bar and Kitchen, a new Italian restaurant with a uniquely advantageous supply chain that no other Italian restaurant in Broward can duplicate.

The concept is backed by the Flora family, founders of Flora Fine Foods, a long-running importer and distributor of Italian specialty products.

The first floor of this showroom is a smorgasbord of their imported canned goods, artisanal cheeses, snacks, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, pastas, curated wines, candies, and frozen meals and soups. There’s also a cafeteria with its own daily kitchen churning out subs and paninis and classics like lasagna and chicken parm. That wraps around into a pastry section with everything from cannolis to key lime pie. That dovetails into homemade gelato that was divine.

Then there was the deli. Some of the finest imported meats I’ve tasted in a while. Various types of mouth-watering prosciuttos, guancale, sausages, and mortadellas. It goes on and on.

Their ingredient advantage is vertical integration: many products are imported directly through their own company rather than sourced through typical restaurant distributors. This first-floor showroom is what supplies the ingredients for the delicious menu created upstairs by Executive Chef Francesco Cavarretta. Flora stated, “he brings international culinary experience and is tasked with balancing innovation with the family’s traditional Italian recipes.”

The ambiance is a bit lacking. There’s only so much you can do on the second floor with a bustling cafeteria downstairs. The bar is beautiful, but the table setup is a bit scattered, and the view of some TVs is oddly plastered 80 feet up across the entire space.

The Mozarella Marinara ($14.50) had two large, beautifully crusted wedges of milky mozzarella cheese. Combined with the fresh marinara was a proper original version of a classic.

Mozzarella Marinara

The Cozze Al White Wine, Lemon and Parsley ($20.50) had a host of mussels cooked to perfection. They opened just right, didn’t stay in the broth long enough to become chewy. The broth has a balance of sweetness from wine and acidity of lemons, with a healthy amount of minced cooked garlic. You can drink the broth, it’s that good.

Cozze Al White Wine Mussels.

Speaking of cooked to perfection, the Grilled Octopus ($19.50) was first braised, then grilled, and was wonderfully tender. It was slathered in Mediterranean spices and formed a really flavorful bite with the grilled potatoes and sun-dried tomatoes on the plate. It was the perfect balance between the sweetness of the sun-dried tomatoes and the starchiness of the potatoes, with the octopus’s char.

Grilled Octopus

The Prosciutto and Burrata Plate (`$18.50) had the absolute creamiest burrata just oozing out of its shell. They brought some top-notch, salty, thinly sliced prosciutto from the deli downstairs. A little dressing would have been appreciated drizzled over the charcoal-grilled focaccia, but that was a minor gripe.

Prosciutto and Burrata

The dressing of Angela’s Salad ($16.50) was a fantastically elevated version of deli sub dressing with red wine vinegar, olive oil, and Italian herbs. The salad’s freshness can’t be overstated. Somehow they also pickled and cooked the artichoke and green pepper to the point it was soft and melting apart. Mix in some crumbled goat cheese and given the size, this was one of the best values I’ve seen for the portion and taste. We opted to add one grilled Jumbo Prawn for $6.50 and even that was fresh and plump.

The Short Rib Ravioli ($26.50) was, comparatively speaking, the worst item on the menu, yet it was still very good. It was a house ravioli filled with braised short rib that almost became a paste, and the chef’s aromatic cream sauce with plenty of asiago and bits of rosemary with thinly shaved parmesan strips on top. Overall, still quite enjoyable.

Short Rib Ravioli

This isn’t a chef-driven vanity project; it’s the hospitality extension of an established Italian import business. Angela’s is effectively the dining room showcase for decades of Italian sourcing infrastructure. They leverage that advantage into a delicious experience where hopefully you eat upstairs and get full before venturing downstairs and doing some extra damage to your wallet.

Angela’s Bar and Kitchen

12329 W Sample Rd
Coral Springs, FL 33065
954-678-3471

Hours

Wed – Fri – 3:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Sat 1:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Sun 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Author Profile

Han Okcuoglu

Han Okcuoglu is a curious foodie, Turkish-American and resident of South Florida for over 35 years. He graduated from FAU with a degree in Information Systems Management. He also writes food reviews on various websites and social media groups. He loves to see new restaurants and mom and pop shops get the attention they deserve and flourish.