Our 11-ounce Kobe Meatball can be served as an appetizer or main dish and has been in our restaurants since the day we started Vic & Angelo’s.
David Manero knows a thing or two about the restaurant industry. He grew up learning from his father’s restaurant business, has opened ten restaurants in Connecticut and Florida, and has been working in restaurant concept, design and management for 30 years. Throughout his success, Manero had stayed true to his signature style of using fresh ingredients sourced locally. He also makes dining at his restaurants an experience for all five senses, with help from his wife Lynn Manero, the interior designer behind Lynn Interior Designs. A vast local and celebrity following from the first two Vic & Angelo’s prompted the creation of The Office in Delray Beach and the region’s first modern American Gastropub. BurgerFi then followed as David’s latest creation with his long time partner John Rosatti and Lee Goldberg. Miami Beach is now abuzz with excitement for Manero’s recent installment, South Florida favorite Vic & Angelo’s on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach.
How did you begin your career in the culinary field?
My passion for food started at an early age. My father was in the restaurant business, and both my parents stayed true to the Italian philosophy “from the garden to the plate” [by] using only fresh organic ingredients grown themselves or bought daily from the local farmers market. I opened my first restaurant in 1991, Spazzi in Fairfield, Conn. We produced house-made dishes with freshly grown local produce – a style of rustic Italian cuisine that proved very popular as a signature style that I continued as the foundation for future restaurant concepts.
What restaurants have you opened in Florida?
I opened Sopra, Gotham City and Shore in Delray Beach [and] created the inaugural Vic & Angelo’s in Palm Beach in 2006. As the demand grew, we opened a subsequent Vic & Angelo’s also in Delray Beach in 2008. DeVito Italian Prime Chophouse opened on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach in 2007 through our partnership with Danny DeVito. I launched The Office on Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach in 2009, designed by my wife of Lynn Interior Designs. We launched our latest BurgerFi brand to resemble the traditional all-American burger stand of the fifties and sixties, transformed for today’s urban lifestyle. The third Vic & Angelo’s opened on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach this summer.
What appetizer, entrée and dessert is Vic & Angelo’s most known for?
Our 11-ounce Kobe Meatball can be served as an appetizer or main dish and has been in our restaurants since the day we started Vic & Angelo’s. It’s hand-rolled by a trained meat specialist and plated with a thick San Marzano tomato sauce made from tomatoes grown in the volcanic soils of Mount Vesuvius in Italy. Another major item is our signature coal oven pizza made from the purest spring water from the mountains of New York, imported to make our superior dough formula. For dessert, the San Gennaro Feast, our five-layer chocolate fudge cake or Vanilla Venetian Cake.
When you’re not at one of your own restaurants, where can we find you dining?
Chipotle. I love the Carnitas Taco with a corn roll-up, guacamole and doused in a medium sauce from Tomatillo.
What’s your favorite drink?
Jalapeño chili margarita. The key is lots of freshly squeezed lime but no corn syrups.The Jalapeño or Anaheim chili needs to be a moderate dose.
What is your favorite pastime?
Design. I’ve been developing restaurant concepts for 30 years, which is my favorite way to spend my time when I’m not managing the operations side of the business. Lynn Interior Design is the true creative mastermind behind David Manero Restaurants.
News
November 1, 2011The Ledbury Named Best UK Restaurant
