Osteria Acqua & Farina

When Valentino's moved across the street, it left behind what was supposed to be a little Italian pizzeria. Items have been added to the menu ever since, and with the laundry list of daily specials, it's now a full-blown restaurant. The best part: The exorbitant prices moved with Valentino's.

Pizzas are still a major draw. The caprese is covered in gooey mozzarella, spotted with cherry tomatoes, and then made pretty with fried basil leaves. The edges are slightly charred from the wood oven, and the center a bit gooey -- just how it should be.

The downside will be evident when you pull up -- the sandwich joint next door, the check cashing shop across the street. But this little strip mall pizza joint puts out some of the best Italian in South Florida, so you'll soon forget about the neighboring nail and massage joint.

A good portion of the husband's family lives around Fort Lauderdale; on a recommendation from a relative, with some validation from Yelp, we decided to try out Osteria Acqua Farina (Water and Flour) on Christmas Eve.  My husband is a SoFla native and we've visited the area on numerous occasions, always interested in *good* restaurants that are not part of a national chain.

We nearly passed it by on our first attempt to visit - it's in the same small, nondescript strip mall as a Jimmy John's on S. Federal - easy to miss in the dark since they don't yet have a lighted sign on their storefront.
The food is excellent. I nearly cried when I saw words like "kale" and "broccoli rabe" and "chicken livers" on the menu.  In South Florida.

To be fair, I did have some raw kale at The Fish House on Key West just the day before. But it was part of the plate's garnish and not an option on the regular menu.

-Bread to start:  house-made foccacia with an oven-dried tomato on each portion. Very good olive oil to accompany.
-Pizza: the Salsicca and Friarielli, a white pizza with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage was very good, the thin crust pretty perfect. Perhaps it needed a tad more seasoning  (parm cheese or salt) to make it 100% tasty.
-Salad: looking very early 90s, this was a nicely raspberry vinaigrette-dressed salad (none of that "dressing on the side" nonsense) with shaved parmesan, marcona almonds and actual raspberries (!).
-Pasta: the husband ordered the Bucatini Amatriciana with Guanciale and Pepperoncini and it was cooked perfectly al dente and very flavourful.
-Appetizer: I chose an app as a main course (despite eyeing the Chicken Livers Orrechietti pasta) - the Sautéed Calamari salad with Cannellini Beans and Kale. The best dish of the evening and an enormous portion for an appetizer. Squid - perfectly tender and savoury; the beans well seasoned, and the kale sautéed and charred ever so lightly to bring out its natural nuttiness.

For some reason we were only 1 of 3 tables that had come in that evening (though we did see some patrons coming in and out for takeout). In contrast, the Valentino's that had formerly occupied the Osteria's location, reportedly was packed. South Floridians, don't let this amazing restaurant go to waste! You need more establishments like these in your area!

Physically, it's the old Valentino's. Nothing has really changed in that department.
The wait staff is definitely different from the old V's. Maybe a bit friendlier; but not as knowledgeable or seasoned as the old place. The menu is very limited.
The pizza is pretty good and different enough from other pizzerias in the area to make it really worth while.
Dishes that stand out are the chicken Valentino and the lasagna. One night, they had veal shank as an off-menu special which was pretty good.