*****  Pellegrino’s Ristorante, 847 SE 8th Avenue, Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441 (954) 418-0611.

Pellegrino’s Ristorante is a white table cloth-hole in the wall Italian joint located  in a non-descript Deerfield Beach strip shopping center. This is one of the best Italian Restaurants in South Florida, so make sure that your GPS system is working…so that you can find it.

Take a look at Pellegrino’s website at www.pellegrinosrestaurant.com for menu details. Also take a look at the joint’s history and picture gallery. In the “history” you will find that Bobby Pellegrino (Pellegrino’s owner) is a nephew of the owners of Harlem’s world-famous Rao’s Restaurant. Folks who have eaten at Rao’s have told me that the Pellegrino’s and Rao’s food is very similar as is the total dining decor/ambiance. All I can tell you (having never eaten at Rao’s) is that Pellegrino’s sets the right mood, that being that you are eating at a family run NYC Italian joint circa 1950 by having an old juke box playing doo wop records when you enter the joint.

I have eaten in Pellegrino’s exactly 4 times. The food is absolutely terrific… delicious veal chop valdostano, veal parmigiana, shrimp scampi, zuppa  di pesce.

Like I said before, this joint is a hole-in-the-wall, so you are going to need a reservation. As for pricing, this joint ain’t cheap…but “you get what you pay for.”

Pellegrino’s is open Tuesday-Sunday for dinner…closed on Monday.