Jan NorrisEddie and Vinny’s will replace Prezzo, which closes June 30, at PGA Commons.
Eddie and Vinny’s Coastal Italian, an upscale restaurant and wine club, is taking over a casual pizzeria and becoming what the owners call an experiential restaurant in Palm Beach Gardens.
It will go into the space occupied by Prezzo, which closes June 30 after a nine-year run in PGA Commons.
Eddie and Christina Pozzuoli, owners of both restaurants under the P Hospitality Group, have decided to take the space in a new direction.
“We’re getting away from the casual ‘Let’s grab a pizza and salad’ format, and leaning more into the experience,” said Eddie Pozzuoli in a Stet News phone interview.
Eddie and Vinny’s will remain Italian but will become a “special place to go on weekends,” he said. The wine club will enhance the experience.
(Photo: Courtesy P Hospitality Management)
Restaurateurs love Gardens
The new restaurant, named after the owners’ two sons, aged 8 and 5, is expected to open in the fall.
“We love that space,” Pozzuoli said. Palm Beach Gardens is a draw for them personally, he said, though settling in took time.
“It took us a couple years to get ingrained and understand the regulars.”
Hospitality is the emphasis for Eddie and Vinny’s with a polish that attracts a different crowd from Prezzo, he said
“We could be that special place to celebrate for a special occasion” and become a dining destination, he said.
“Being that the Gardens is such a seasonal crowd, we’re creating an elevated dining space where people might drive a little further to go to.”
He noted the number of New Yorkers coming to the area who appreciate fine dining.
Restaurants are leaning toward what Pozzuoli calls “experiential” dining, where going out is less about the food and more about the experience, he said
“This is more like, ‘How are we going to feel going there?’ Diners are looking for a whole meal experience.
“People have a lot of choices where they can spend their money. The restaurants that stand apart from others are more about the experience than food.”
Energy moves inside
Eddie and Vinny’s will stand out with a modern energy and feel in its decor and hospitality as well, he said. “Others are more traditional in practice and execution.”
The dining room will expand as the patio shrinks.
“We want to bring all the energy inside the restaurant. We’re shrinking the outdoor dining tables, though there will be an outdoor bar with new planters. But it will be kind of a waiting area for guests and for happy hour.”
Prezzo attracted a more casual diner, he said. “It had its run.”
Prezzo was bought as a brand in 1999 by P Hospitality Management from the owner of the Boca Raton-based restaurant. It had been a popular name in the area since its start in 1989, opened by noted restaurateurs Burt Rapoport of Deck 84 in Delray Beach and Dennis Max, creator of Max’s Grill in Boca Raton.
The modern concept with wood-fired pizza and bread with roasted garlic in oil given to diners changed pizzerias in South Florida to an upscale-casual concept.
After closing in 1999, the Prezzo brand was revived by P Hospitality, a group that included the noted Tavolino in Coral Springs, a restaurant created by Eddie’s father.
This will be the second location for the restaurant; the first Eddie and Vinny’s is in Coral Springs in Broward County.
Live entertainment in a warm setting
Diners will see the change not only in decor but in the feel of the restaurant from when reservations are made to the end of the meal, Pozzuoli said.
Their servers and hosts will bring a “warm, hospitable” atmosphere starting at the door, he said.
They’ve been taught that they’re “guiding a guest through the experience.”
Live entertainment is planned nightly. “We’ll have a small stage. Jazz classics, then segue into Top 40s later in the evening.”
Pozzuoli said they’re not ignoring the menu, however.
“It will have classic dishes but with modern twists on things. It will be seafood heavy, because we’re coastal Italian. Seafood apps and entrees, and phenomenal steaks. Weekly specials Thursdays through the weekends.”
Local fish in season, such as hog snapper and pumpkin swordfish, will be added.
At its center: Italian food and sharing
The core menu is Italian favorites, however.
“Our chicken parm is nothing like any other. The airline chicken breast is huge — we leave the bone in it. It’s a 12- to 14-ounce chicken breast.”
He touts the crab ravioli and other dishes for sharing.
“The whole menu lends itself to sharing. The idea behind it is when Christina and I go out to eat, we like to try a few dishes on the menu. So we’ll split an app, split a salad and then split an entree.”
The kitchen will handle the split orders, too, he said.
“We’ll serve it all sliced for you. We serve French-style, and encourage that.”
Servers are told to offer family-style service for the table.
“It’s become like a way to eat out,” he said. “A lot of people enjoy eating out that way.”
The wine club
Menu pricing is upscale but within reach for the area. Entrees range around $34 and up to $70 for steaks. Cocktails are $17-$18 for specialty drinks, and wines go for $50 to $1,000.
Pozzuoli is most excited about the wine club.
“When we were first talking about it, building up the concept, we were thinking of creating a little wine room. Then it would become a retail room during the day.”
Getting a retail permit and all that entailed was prohibitive, so they settled on a wine club, he said.
“We built out lockers and have a secondary program for the guests.
“The Inner Circle, for their first year, gets free corkage — that’s $35 a bottle now.” (Corkage is a service charge when patrons bring their own wine to consume on the premises.)
There will be wine club mixers, where members get to taste four types of wines, and the chef pairs four courses with them. After the meal, they can buy the wines at a discount.
Monthly tastings and wine specials will be part of the program, he said.
The second tier of the membership is the locker program. “You get a locker, and that’s the
program that gets you reserved reservations (ahead of all others as members).”
Discounts at the restaurants and on wines are part of both programs — from 12% to 17% off.
Cost of club memberships are $40 a month for the first tier, and $1,200 annually for the locker membership pre-opening. It will go up to $1,500 after opening, he said.
The program has proved popular in Coral Springs, where the wine mixers attract so many members, they’re offered over two days.
“We sit everyone at common tables; it’s become a cool avenue to enjoy wine and meet people. It’s a social club.”
The membership will be transferable between the restaurants, he said.
Eddie and Vinny’s is expected to open mid- to late-October after the renovation.
They will offer dinner only, with a Friday lunch, limited menu and a happy hour.
“We did a brunch this season in Coral Springs. It went really well,” Pozzuoli said. “We will most likely do something up here, probably with multiple stations, buffet-style.”
